The Diner Incident
by Majorrogue
Summary: After what happened in Nedley's office Waverly asks Nicole out for coffee. She wasn't expecting it to turn out like it does! Things get even stranger when Waverly confronts Nicole about what happened and what she is.
1. Chapter 1

Waverly smiled when she saw Nicole further down the street. The officer was leaning into the window of a car parked so far away from the curb you'd have thought it was actually just stopped in traffic.

"….. I know Mrs Peterson, but you're too far into the road" Waverly overhear Nicole say as she got closer.

"Oh, hello Waverly dear" Mrs Peterson said as she caught sight of her approaching.

Nicole quickly straightened up and turned towards Waverly "Hi" she smiled widely adjusting her hat slightly, she always liked it when she saw Waverly unexpectedly

"Hi" Waverly replied a little shyly. She couldn't help but stare at Nicole's smile, she found it quite mesmerizing. They stood in silence looking at each other smiling for maybe a little too long when they were both bought out of it by Mrs Peterson

"So, Am I in trouble dear?" She asked Officer Haught

Nicole did a double take at the older lady in the car, she'd nearly forgotten she was there "Oh, no of course not, just please park closer to the pavement next time Mrs Peterson, okay?"

"Okay dear" the old lady smiled

As she drove away Nicole turned her attention back to her girlfriend. They both smiled at each other shyly.

"I wouldn't bother with Mrs Peterson, she's had so many tickets for bad parking she could wallpaper her house with them" Waverly laughed

"Oh, Is that right?" Nicole said raising her eyebrows in surprise, she seemed like such a nice old lady.

As they both slowly started walking down the road together, Nicole looked over at Waverly. She had on her long furry winter coat, a long scarf and those adorable mittens that always made Nicole smile.

"So…." Waverly looked quickly at Nicole and then to the floor "Wynonna and Dolls went off….. well, doing what they do and I was just thinking… about you" she smiled a cheeky smile at Nicole, who smiled back "and I thought maybe I could buy you that coffee I promised you?"

"Coffee?" Nicole asked

Waverly panicked a little, did she not remember? "Y'know from when you introduced yourself… at Shorty's… and I.." She lifted her arms mimicking getting stuck in her shirt "and you helped …and then you did the thing with your hat…" her smile slowly slipped "Don't you remember?"

Nicole laughed "Oh believe me I remember that day perfectly" It was etched into her memory as one of the best things to have happened to her since she got to Purgatory, well at the time anyway, making out with Waverly the other day in Nedley's office had bumped it off of the top spot. "I also remember you saying you're a planner, isn't this a little spontaneous?"

"It is" Waverly answered honestly "But, I'm growing as a person and I just wanted to see you and thought if you're free…." She smiled brightly but shyly and tried not to let on to the fact that she was finding this spontaneity a little uncomfortable, but like she said, she wanted to see Nicole so she was willing to put up with it.

"Luckily for you I am free and could do with a coffee, lead the way"

—

They took off their coats and sat opposite each other in a booth at the diner just down the road from where they had met up. They both ordered coffee and it didn't take long for the waitress to bring it to them. Nicole picked up her mug and wrapped her hands around it to warm them up. Waverly blew on hers and took a sip.

They'd started talking, but Waverly kept getting distracted by a guy she could see over Nicole's shoulder. He was sitting at the furthest end of the counter and had started swaying backward and forward slightly and shaking his head.

Nicole noticed Waverly being distracted "What is it?" she asked as she turned around to see what Waverly was looking at

"Oh It's nothing" Waverly smiled and shook her head "That guys just… oh it's nothing"

Nicole eyed up the man, he was wearing dark biker clothes and a baseball cap pulled down, you could barely see his face. She knew the town was having a bit of trouble with people like him, but she didn't really want to worry about that now, she wanted to focus on the beautiful woman sitting opposite her.

She turned back to Waverly and shuffled forward on her chair and leaned towards her "So, I was thinking if you were free on Thursday night…"

"FUCKING Earp" the man suddenly shouted

Everyone in the diner stopped, fell silent and looked at the man. Waverly looked shocked and a little scared, Nicole grabbed the side of the table and turned towards the man.

He slowly stood up and kicked his stool out of his way, his head was shaking manically. "Fucking Earps" he said again with suck anger you could see the veins in his neck. He slowly made his way towards the women "If I can't kill the heir I might as well kill the spare!" He laughed

As the other people in the diner started to leave quickly, Waverly shot out of her seat ready to run or fight, Nicole did the same but stood between Waverly and the approaching man, her hand hovering over her gun.

"Okay, just stay…" Nicole started but stopped when the man pulled out a gun.

She pulled out her gun quickly in response and pointed it at the man, "Put down the weapon" She said

She started stepping backwards and put her other hand behind her and slowly pushed Waverly back as well. As a good police officer she spotted all the possible exits when they had come in and sat down. She knew that behind the diners counter and through the kitchen was the safest way for Waverly to get out.

"If I kill an Earp, I'll be a LEGEND!" He shouted

"Put. the gun. down" Nicole said calmly, still walking backwards with Waverly grabbing onto her shirt.

"I don't think so pig, I'm gonna kill an Earp and be a fucking legend" he shouted banging his fist against his chest and laughing again.

As the women made it to the end of the counter the man raised his gun and started shooting. Bullets hit the floor in front of them and the counter next to them and as Nicole was about to fire back two more shots rang out and she suddenly hunched over. The two women fell backwards behind the end of the counter out of sight of the man.

"Oh my god, Nicole! Are you okay?" Waverly said from behind the police officer, desperately scrambling to get a look at the front of Nicole, but she couldn't see what had happened as Nicole was bent over and had her back to her "Nicole!"

"I'm… I'm fine, Waves" She said in a slightly pained voice. She turned her head to Waverly "GO" she pointed to the kitchen door with her head "Go through the kitchen, to the alley…"

"No, I'm not going anywhere without you" she said gripping the officers shirt again as bullets hit the top of the counter.

"Go Waverly, I'm fine, go" Nicole said as she got on her knees and quickly look around the end of the counter at the man, who was still coming towards them. She turned back to Waverly quickly and again pointed with her head towards the kitchen, she didn't want Waverly to see the blood on her hands.

When she saw her crawling towards the kitchen Nicole turned back to the man and shot at him from behind the counter. He stopped moving as the shots fired, but as soon as Nicole had hidden back behind the counter he moved towards her again. Nicole was done with warning shots. She'd always been a pretty good shot and as she stood quickly and shot at the man again the bullets hit their target. she felt a little swell of pride as the man fell to the floor, she hadn't really expected to have to use her gun in a small town like Purgatory, but she was glad she hadn't lost her marksmanship skills.

She made sure from her position that the man didn't get up from where he fell and then sat back against the counter. Still holding her gun just in case the man did start moving again she put her empty hand on her abdomen where the shots had hit, when she pulled it away it was covered in even more blood. She leaned her head back against the counter, she'd forgotten just how much this hurt. She quickly looked around towards the kitchen to make sure Waverly wasn't there, then leaned back, closed her eyes and concentrated. It had been a long time since she'd done this and she really had to make sure she remembered how, this was far worse than the last time and she was loosing blood quickly.

—

Waverly hadn't made it to the alley, she was too worried about Nicole, but she had been hiding in the kitchen. When she hadn't heard anything for a while she looked up towards the serving window from where she was crouching and listened for any movement or more shots, as she looked a strange white light caught her eye. The light was so bright, like the purest white she had ever seen, but faded just as quickly as it had appeared.

What with the strange light and the lack of any more gunshots, Waverly started crawling back to where her and Nicole had fallen behind the counter.

"Nicole?" she whispered as she approached the end of the counter, but there was no reply and no sign of Nicole. She got to the end of the counter and stuck her head out to see what might have happened. When she saw Nicole crouched next to the man a few feet away she stood up

"Nicole?" she asked softly

Nicole turned and stood slowly, placing her hand on the floor to help herself up "Waverly, are you alright?" she said moving closer to her girlfriend and looking down at her to make sure she wasn't hurt.

"I'm fine, but you, are you…?" Waverly said looking down at Nicole's shirt, reaching out and making only slight contact with it before they were both distracted by Nedley, Dolls and Wynonna rushing into the dinner, guns pulled.

Waverly watched as a seemingly unhurt Nicole moved away from her to tell the others what had happened.

Was she mistaken about what had happened? She was sure Nicole had been shot, but there she was talking to the others like nothing had happened.

It didn't take long before Wynonna rushed over, grabbed her and did a quick once over to make sure she wasn't hurt and then hugged her tight. "You okay, lil sis?"

"Yeah.. Yeah, i'm fine" Waverly answered still watching Nicole and wondering what had happened

"You think he's a revenant?"

"Who's a revenant?" Waverly asked panicked. She hadn't heard all of what Wynonna had said and had a horrible thought about Nicole.

"The dead dude" Wynonna said pointing with Peacemaker

"Oh, Yeah, I think so. He was pretty adamant about killing an Earp"

"Oh great! Well, I can't really send him back to hell with the whole town watching…"

Waverly zoned out again. She watched Nicole as she oversaw the revenant being put onto a stretcher and taken to an ambulance. Nedley stopped her, looked concerned and pointed to the waist. Nicole looked down then looked up worried, she took a second but then with a nervous smile she shook her head and pointed to the man on the stretcher. Had Nedley seen something? They talked for a minute more, Nicole shook her head some more, but then with a frown and a bit of a pout, she walked away from Nedley and towards Waverly.

As she got closer Waverly looked for what Nedley might have seen and spotted it too; blood on Nicole's trousers.

Nicole looked down to what Waverly was looking at, she looked nervous.

"Oh! Erm… don't you worry about that, it's er….it's not mine, It's the man's, Waves, don't worry" She smiled nervously but now wouldn't look at Waverly properly "Nedley wants me to file a report on what happened" She says as she moved to the booth where they had been sitting only minutes earlier and grabbed her uniform jacket and hat. "Will you be okay….. with Wynonna?"

Waverly's mind was racing. She knew that blood wasn't the revenant's, they didn't bleed red and how would she have got it on the top of her trousers? She couldn't get a good view of Nicole's shirt as she put her uniform jacket back on, with great ease for someone who Waverly was sure had been shot. If she could see the shirt she might be able to see if there was more blood, but it was too dark. How could Nicole have been shot and be perfectly fine? It isn't possible. She couldn't be a revenant, could she? Not after all this time. She couldn't be could she?

When Waverly didn't answer the question Wynonna did "She'll be fine, I'll get Doc to take her back to the homestead"

Nicole nodded "Call me later?" She asked. Waverly nodded back

Nicole took a last look at Waverly, smiled and left.


	2. Chapter 2

It had been a couple of hours since the incident in the diner and Waverley had had enough of sitting at home wondering and worrying about Nicole. Her imagination was running riot in the silence of the homestead, wondering what had happened, whether she had actually seen what she had seen or if there was a simple explanation, but the more she thought about it the more she thought there couldn't be a simple explanation could there? Either way she couldn't take it any more, she had to see Nicole.

As she ascended the stairs to Nicole's flat she had no idea what she was actually going to say or do, but she had to see her and get the truth. She stood in front of Nicole's front door for a little longer than she meant to, but she needed to psych herself up and work up the courage to knock.

When Nicole answered she was wearing a loose t-shirt and a pair of baggy shorts. Her hair was wet and she had a towel around her neck where she'd been drying it.

"Oh, You're not the pizza…" Nicole started with surprise and a smile "..boy" she finished as Waverly rushed in past her.

Nicole didn't notice Waverly's hands nervously flapping by her sides as she shut the door and followed her into the living area.

"Oh hey, give me a minute, i'll just brush my hair" Nicole said as she rushed away from Waverly and into what she assumed was the bedroom.

Waverley still had no idea what she was going to say, but as she paced slightly she looked around Nicole's flat, which she hadn't actually been in before. It was a smallish place and only had one door which led into the bedroom, she assumed the bathroom was in there somewhere too. She was standing by the entrance to the open planned kitchen, to her left was a living area with a small dinning table and a sofa against the wall opposite a TV. She looked into the kitchen to see the counters were covered in empty milk cartons, crisp packets, a box of breakfast cereal and other empty wrappers she couldn't identify with such a quick glance. She wondered if Nicole was normally so messy, she didn't take her for a messy person. As she focussed on Nicole's flat and potential messiness, rather than her surviving being shot, she began to calm down a little.

But unfortunately the calmness vanished when she saw out of the corner of her eye what looked like a shirt sleeve sticking out of the rubbish bin in Nicole's kitchen. She looked towards the bedroom to see if Nicole was coming, when she wasn't Waverly grabbed the sleeve and pulled it out of the bin. It was one of Nicole's uniform shirts. Why was it in the bin? Was it the one Nicole was wearing earlier? She quickly held it up and tried to find the front, when she did she noticed that the bottom of the shirt was a darker colour. Was that blood, dried blood? With a closer look she found what she was really looking for, two holes. More specifically two bullet holes.

"Hey, so, this is the first time you've been here, huh?" Nicole shouted from her bedroom. "I should welcome you to my humble ab- whoa" She stopped as she walked out and saw Waverly. "Wave?"

Waverly was holding the screwed up shirt in one hand and a knife in the other pointed at Nicole.

"What the hell is this, huh?" she said throwing the shirt at Nicole.

"W-waverly.." Nicole started as she caught the shirt after it hit her in the chest. This was not meant to have happened, Waverley was never meant to find that shirt "I can…I can explain.." she smiled hesitantly as she desperately tried to think, could she explain?

"Yeah? Is that right? You can explain how you survived getting shot twice this morning, huh? You can explain what the hell you are, huh?" Waverly said with the knife still held out towards Nicole. She had always been quite impressed with how scary Waverly could get, but she had never been on the receiving end of that ferocity and it was not nice.

"WHAT ARE YOU? Are you a revenant? huh? Are you here for Wynonna?"

"Wynonna?" Nicole questioned, confused

"Is that what I am to you, a way to get to her? To get close to the heir? or-or do you want to hurt her by hurting me?" She was starting to get overwhelmed and her eyes were filling with tears "I will never let you hurt her, demon…" she thrust the knife in Nicole's direction

"Waverly, please," Nicole said putting her hands in front of her defensively "I don't know what you're talking about…. I …" she stepped closer to Waverly.

Waverly held the knife out towards her again and Nicole stopped. "YOU WERE SHOT! You were shot at the diner and I knew you were, I knew it, but then you weren't hurt … but I knew it, and that proves it" she pointed to the shirt "So explain, Nicole, explain what you are? because I know you aren't human" she shook her head. "Please explain… I don't want to have to tell Wynonna that you're …. a demon or…" she had desperately hoped that she was wrong, that she had been mistaken at the diner, but the bullet holes in the shirt and the dried blood and the fact that Nicole, her Nicole, the hot cop that she had made out with the other day in her bosses office, was standing there in front of her with no sign of any kind of injury, confirmed that she was right. Nicole wasn't a normal human.

"TELL ME" Waverly shouted in frustration

Nicole didn't answer and they both stood in silence for what seemed like forever. Nicole was trying to figure out what to do. Should she tell the truth or should she try to wriggle her way out of this the best she could? While Waverly was hoping she didn't actually have to use the knife on the woman she had been slowly falling for to get out of her flat.

As the silence got louder they were both ripped out of their thoughts and scared half to death, when there was a loud knocking on Nicole's front door.

With a look of confusion Nicole quickly moved to her front door and opened it.

"Hi, Officer Haught" said a rather squeaky voice

"Oh, Hi Ben" Nicole answered politely. It was the pizza boy Nicole was expecting, but had forgotten about.

"I got here as quickly as I could _without_ breaking any laws" Ben squeaked pointedly, smiling cheekily.

Nicole smiled and feigned a laugh, "Good" She said honestly. In any other circumstance she might have actually found it funny, but this was not the time to recall when she had pulled the kid over on his pizza delivery bike because he jumped a light. Instead she quickly gave him his money and said goodbye.

Waverly's eyes widened in surprise and confusion when she saw Nicole put two large pizza's on the kitchen counter.

"Two pizza's, really, Nicole?" she questioned

Nicole shrugged and smiled a smile that yelled 'I can explain', but she said nothing, instead she stepped back in front of Waverly. She looked at her examining her face still trying to decide if she should tell her. She liked Waverly more than she had liked anyone in a very long time. She made her happy, just being around her made her smile. If she lied Waverly would know and she could loose her. Tell her the truth and there was every possibility she could still loose her.

"Waverly, I don't know what a revenant is, but I know i'm not one" She smiled trying to reassure Waverly "and I would never hurt you or Wynonna, in fact… the complete opposite…" She stepped even closer

Waverley looked her in the eye and saw nothing but truth and kindness. But she still needed to know.

When she saw Nicole look down towards the knife that she was still holding up, her eyes followed, but she hadn't expected Nicole to place her hand over the sharp tip of the knife, press down and scrape her palm across it.

Waverly panicked and quickly pulled the knife away "What the hell are you…?" she said stepping away.

Nicole face looked slightly pained as she turned her hand over and they both looked at the gash on her palm, it had already started bleeding profusely. Waverly looked at Nicole as if she was crazy and Nicole just looked back at her calmly. She motioned with her head for Waverly to look back at her hand.

"My mother always told me" Nicole said softly "That there are two sides to everything, light and dark, right and wrong, truth and lie, love and hate…." she looked at Waverly "Good and evil" as she said that a bright white light started to shine out of the cut on her hand. It was the same light that Waverly had seen in the diner. As they both watched, the cut started to close and after a couple more seconds it was gone entirely and so was the light.

Waverly's mouth fell open, she didn't know what to think, when she'd come here to confront Nicole she hadn't known what to expect, but it certainly wasn't this. She looked from Nicole's hand to her face and back again a few times. Her face relaxed as if a great weight had been lifted, at least Nicole wasn't a revenant.

She shook her head and softly said "What are you?"

It took a second or two for Nicole to answer, she hadn't said it out loud in such a long time "An angel" Nicole replied

Waverly mouthed "What?"

"Well, half…. half angel" Nicole clarified

"Oh, … _half_ …. angel…." Waverly said nodding in slight disbelief, she wondering away from Nicole "Half. angel" she said again quietly thinking.

"I know it sounds … ridiculous and I know it's a lot to take in…." Nicole worried and followed Waverly

"Well, not really…." Waverley said standing in the middle of Nicole's living room with her hands on her hips

"It's… It's not?" Nicole was confused. She thought Waverly's reaction was going to be quite different

"No. It makes perfect sense, really" Waverly said turning around smiling "There is always a balance in all things, a yin and yang" she said excitedly "If we have demons then of course there must be angels" she practically laughed and bounced slightly.

She rushed towards Nicole reached up with both hands, grabbed her face and kissed her.

When they parted Nicole was confused again "You're not….bothered?"

"Oh God no" she waved away the suggestion "I'm relieved, I thought you were going to be a demon, I'm just glad I don't have to tell Wynonna and she doesn't have to send you back to hell!"

Now Nicole was really confused "Send me back to hell…?" she shook her head

"Yeah, well, maybe that's a discussion for another time, huh?" Waverley smiled sweetly

Nicole disagreed "Well…. I mean…I'd like to…"

"I think a more important question…" Waverly interrupted quickly to get away from the subject "..Is why you ordered two pizza's?" She smiled walking past Nicole to the kitchen "And why is your kitchen such a mess?" Waverly's face showed slight disgust, but mainly amusement.


	3. Chapter 3

"Oh, well, I wasn't actually expecting anyone to come by…." Nicole said quickly walking past Waverly into her kitchen and gathering up all the empty wrappers from the counter and putting them in the bin. She let herself get distracted from the conversation about hell and demons because in any other situation, she'd have been annoyed that this would be Waverly's first impression of her home, but at the minute she had other things to think about. "It's not normally like this….I was in a rush" She said smiling apologetically at Waverly, who had moved to the counter where the pizza's were.

"Why were you in a rush?" she asked curiously as she idly lifted the lid of the pizza box slightly and looked inside.

"I…erm…." she should just tell her, she's already told her the major secret "Well, I needed to eat…"

"You were hungry?" Waverly questioned smiling "Really? I'm not sure that's the best reason for your kitchen looking like a bomb went off or for ordering two whopping pizza's just for yourself! You must have been super hungry" Waverly said skeptically as she lifted the lid of the bottom pizza.

Nicole walked over and grabbed the boxes out of Waverly's hands and gave her a disapproving look, in turn Waverly gave her a ' _what?_ ' look back.

Nicole walked over to the dining table and put the pizza boxes side by side and opened the lids. Pointing at them individually she said "Meat feast and ham and pineapple"

"Hawaiian?" Waverly said with surprise

"Sorry, I like it" Nicole shrugged "Now, do you want some or not, because I WILL eat them both" she said picking up a slice of the Hawaiian pizza

Before Waverly could make it to the table and sit down, Nicole's slice had already gone

"Whao, you really are hungry" She said grabbing a slice of the meat feast while she could

"Well, I…erm…" Nicole wavered her hands around slightly trying to find the right words "I have to eat after I…"

"… Use your super power?" Waverly finished excitedly with a huge grin

"…Heal myself" Nicole corrected picking up another slice of pizza "It uses quite a bit of my energy normally and two bullet wounds is more than i've had to do in a very long time, I needed to refuel"

Waverley bit into her slice "So you've had to do this before?" She asked while chewing

"A couple of times, but nothing as bad, I was attacked with a knife in an alley way while I was on duty a few years back, It was quite deep and no one was around so ….." Nicole grabbed another slice of pizza.

There was silence for a moment while they both eat and Nicole could practically hear the cogs in Waverly's brain whirl as she thought all of this through

"So, how come you didn't heal yourself when you nearly got kidnapped?" Waverly finally asked

"I was knocked out" She shrugged "I have to consciously make myself heal, I'm not Wolverine" Nicole laughed "I can't just automatically heal and by the time I was conscious people had seen the wounds, so it would have been suspicious… and dangerous"

"Dangerous?" Waverly asked looking concerned

Nicole started to shake her head, she wished she hadn't said that. "Oh, I just … I mean …" But before Nicole could answer fully, Waverly was surprised by a cat suddenly jumping up onto the furthest end of the table.

"Geez!" she said putting her hand to her chest.

"Oh, hey, you haven't met yet, this is Thunderbolt, my cat" Nicole smiled and gestured to the cat that had now started walking across the table towards them. Waverly smiled at the cat as it got closer to her, it didn't take it's eyes off of her.

The white cat stopped on Waverly's side of the table and looked at her with it's bright blue eyes as though it was inspecting her. Waverly put her hand out to stroke it, but the cat stopped just out of reach.

"Hey, now, be nice, this is Waverly, Say hello T2" Nicole said

The cat looked at her and them back at Waverly, it then meowed at her, stepped forward so she could be stroked and then sat down neatly wrapping her tail around her feet. Waverly smiled a little uneasily, this cat seemed a bit weird.

"Hey don't you sit down, Miss, you know you're not allowed on the table, down please" Nicole said to the cat.

"Er, T2?" Waverly asked watching the cat walk away

"I call her that because, well it's shorter than Thunderbolt for one and because her mum was called Thunderbolt as well" Nicole replied as she watched her cat walk to the edge of the table and jump down onto the chair next to her. It then sat there and looked at Nicole.

"Wasn't that confusing having two cats called the same thing?" Waverly asked going in for more pizza.

"It would have been, but her mum disappeared a little after she was born" Nicole answered as she stroked the cat who closed her eyes and purred at the touch. Nicole then gave her a small piece of pizza crust to eat. "She was the only kitten.."

Nicole was cut off when Waverly's phone started ringing, she looked at the screen to see Wynonna's name "It's Wynonna" she said to Nicole as she answered it

"Hey Sis, Why aren't you at the homestead like I told you to be?" Wynonna said with slight annoyance

"I was, but I wanted to …. check on Nicole" Waverly said looking sheepishly at Nicole across the table

"Check on her?" Wynonna questioned, why would she need to check on her? but she didn't have the time to question her more "Okay, fine, at least she has a gun…" She said slightly absent-mindedly

"What?"

"Well, that dead revenant from the diner this morning has gone AWOL from the morgue already and if he's got a mad-on for killing an Earp i'm just glad you're with someone armed. Anyway we need you to come and help us track him down and I want you where I can see you"

"Okay, i'll be there as quickly as I can" Waverly said hanging up and standing

"Is everything alright?" Nicole asked looking worried

"Oh yeah, You know Wynonna…" Waverly tried to make light of the call

"Apparently not" Nicole said with a slight smile

Waverly looked confused

"Well, you mentioned she could send me to hell and something about demons…." Nicole reminded

"Oh" Waverly laughed nervously as she walked towards the door "Yeah, that….. we'll have to talk about that…. AND the whole dangerous healing angel thing" She said pointedly "Don't think I didn't notice you try to avoid that" Waverly smiled and pointed at Nicole

"Yeah, I think we have a lot to talk about" Nicole smiled "Hey, do you need a lift to Wynonna?" Nicole asked as Waverly opened the front door

"Nah, I've got my Jeep" Waverly said turning around in the doorway.

"Okay, then…" Nicole said looked down at Waverly smiling, that must have been the weirdest hour of the year, but she was still so smitten with this woman and Waverly hadn't freak out or ran away, which was good.

Waverly smiled back, raised up onto her tiptoes and kissed Nicole softly. They pulled apart for an instant before Waverly kissed her again. Waverly finally pulled away and started to leave.

"I'll call you later" she said with a little wave

"Okay" Nicole said softly. She really had to stop getting so distracted and fuzzy headed when Waverly kissed her, she thought as she closed her front door.

She turned to see Thunderbolt sitting on the floor looking at her "Isn't she great?" she asked the cat as she made her way back to the table for more pizza. "And she didn't freak out about you know what" She smiled "Hopefully she'll be coming round here more often too" Nicole smiled even wider at the thought.

Thunderbolt meowed at Nicole and walked away to the window. Jumping up on the window sill she looked out into the street and watched as Waverly jumped into her Jeep, reversed out of the parking spot next to Nicole's police cruiser and drove away.

Thunderbolt turned to see Nicole eating more pizza and humming happily to herself, then turned back to watching the street outside and making herself comfortable on the window sill.


	4. Chapter 4

The next afternoon Nicole smiled at Wynonna as she left the Black Badge Division's office opposite the police main desk, that smile widened when Waverly starts walking towards her. They had been interrupted yet again earlier when they were talking about maybe going out to dinner. It had started out as them getting together to talk about the many, many things they really needed to talk about, but it slowly morphed into something else.

"Okay, So where were we, because I seem to think it was something about like, candles, you trying to get me into a sexy black dress, something's wrong" Nicole said seeing that Waverly didn't seem as interested in the conversation as she had done earlier.

"A lot of things might be wrong, Dolls and Wynonna and her gun…" Waverly seemed worried

"What is the deal with that gun anyway?" Nicole asked, but Waverely seemed distracted by a message coming over the radio. Nicole hadn't really heard it, she was yet again distracted by Waverly

"Did she say pink?" Waverly asked about the message

"What?"

"On the radio, she said something about a pink Sedan" Waverly sighed "That's Doc"

"Do you want me to handle it? I'm meant to be on the front desk, but he's your friend…" Nicole asked

Waverly smiled hopefully "Do you mind?"

Nicole thought it was a silly question really, she would jump into an active volcano if Waverly asked her to. She smiled "Of course not" she said wheeling her desk chair over to the radio "This is Officer Haught, can you repeat please" She said into the radio

They waited a moment for a reply "Officer Haught, we have had reports of a pink four door Sedan driving erratically on highway 81" a voice said

"Okay, thank you Doris, i'll take a look" Nicole replied. She looked over at Waverly "Do you want to tag along?" she smiled

Waverly smiled widely at the thought not only of spending time with Nicole, but also the thought of going out on patrol with Nicole "Yeah" she said excitedly "I'll get my coat" She said turning and nearly skipping back to the Black Badge offices.

Nicole smiled at her girlfriends excitement before turning around to find someone to cover the desk.

Outside the station Waverly made herself comfortable in the passenger side of Nicole's patrol car.

"I brought some coffee" Nicole said pointing to the tumbler in the cup holder next to Waverly "It can get cold in this car" Nicole smiled

"Ooh, great" Waverly smiled picking up the drink and having a sip "Erm…I err…I made you a sandwich" Waverly said slightly embarrassed as she reached into her coat pocket and pulled out a slightly squashed sandwich.

"You did?" Nicole smiled happily taking the gift

"Well, I wasn't sure if you were fully…" Waverly flapped her hand a bit "Y'know, charged"

Nicole smiled sweetly "That is very kind of you" she took the sandwich and give it a quick smell "I am feeling pretty much 'fully charged', thank you, I had six eggs for breakfast" She smiled and laughed a little.

"Six?" Waverly shook her head in disbelief and threw her hands up in the air "I'm dating an eating machine"

Nicole laughed "You are! and i'm definitely going to eat this too" she smiled placing the sandwich in the pocket of her door.

It didn't take them too long to reach highway 81 and it didn't take Waverly long to get irate at Doc

"..I mean what does he think he's doing, huh? He can't even drive! and I only suggested that he try this morning, he's going to get himself killed" she ranted

"He can't drive?" Nicole asked concerned, what the hell was he doing in a car speeding if he can't drive?

Waverly looked at Nicole who had switched into work mode, she probably shouldn't have said that "Well, I just mean….I mean… that's not the point! The point is he shouldn't be this far out, Where does he think he's going?"

Nicole saw the pink car ahead of them and thought that she might be able to distract Waverly from her Doc rant and calm her down a bit "Do you want to put the siren on?" Nicole asked

Waverly did a double take "What?"

"The sirens and lights, do you want to…."

"YES" Waverly said with a mix of excitement and her previous annoyance "Where do I.." Waverly looked around for a button to press

"Here" Nicole pointed "press this one, that'll put the lights on and then press this one once for the siren" She said as the car got closer to Doc's

Waverly did as she was told, the lights went on and the sirens 'whooped' once. The pink Sedan swerved across the road slightly then slowly came to a stop.

"Right, now we'll see…" Waverly said as she reached for the door handle

"Er, no Waverly, you should stay in the car" Nicole said placing her hand cautiously on Waverly's knee

Waverly's head whipped round and she gave Nicole a scary 'what are you talking about' look

"It is an official police matter, Wave, I have to speak to him about his speeding and his erratic.."

Waverly crossed her arms "Fine" she said in a sulk not letting Nicole finish her sentence

"Okay" Nicole smiled softly then got out of the car and walked towards Doc

She thought she would be saving Doc from Waverly's fury, but unfortunately it wasn't long before Waverly was storming towards the car with a face like thunder. "Oh, boy" Nicole said under her breath

"How about a freakin' explanation huh?" Waverley said as she got to the car

"If there is any kindness in you, you will arrest me and quick" Doc pleaded with Nicole

"Sorry there 'stone cold', not getting off so easy" Nicole said as she walked away leaving Doc to his fate.

When she got back in the car she rubbed her hands to try to warm them up. Remembering she had come prepared, she grabbed her coffee and wrapped her hands around it to get as much warmth from it as possible. After taking a sip of coffee she reached down and found the sandwich Waverly had made for her, she wouldn't admit it to Waverly but she could have eaten it as soon as she was given it, but she thought she should refrain.

While she was enjoying her sandwich and coffee she was surprised to see Doc drive away and leave Waverly standing by the side of the road. She quickly put her coffee down and the other half of the sandwich in her lap and started the car. She slowly drove up beside Waverly who was looking pretty dejected.

"Waves? get in and warm up, huh" Nicole said softly

Waverly walked around the front of the car and slumped down into the passenger seat silently.

Nicole looked at Waverly and waited for her to say something. She didn't.

"Do you want some sandwich?" Nicole offered holding out the last of it.

Waverly took it and tore it in half handing the other bit back.

"What happened?" Nicole asked with a mouth full of sandwich

"He's leaving Purgatory" Waverly said miserably eating the sandwich then wiping her crumb covered hands on her coat

"Well, he'll come back" Nicole offered trying to comfort her. Waverly turned and looked at her skeptically "Have you known him long then?" Nicole asked

Waverly realised that they really hadn't known Doc for long at all "No…not not….Really" It probably seemed stupid to be so upset about someone she hadn't known for long leaving, but Nicole didn't know who Doc really was, they should probably talk about that "As it's just us here, in the middle of nowhere, maybe we should talk"

"Talk?" Nicole was confused, they were talking "Oh, about angels and demons and your sister sending me to hell…." Nicole suggested, It wasn't like she'd been waiting to talk about it all for a few days

"Yeah, and something about you and healing being dangerous or something" Waverly smiled "I should probably tell you mine first as you've already told me your big secret…" She took a sip of her coffee "I expect you've heard some things about Wynonna and Earps in general around town?" she asked

"I don't really pay much attention to rumour, it's normally born from a lie or jealousy…" Nicole said sincerely

"Well, the truth is that … the Earp's are cursed" Waverly looked at Nicole to gauge her reaction, she looked confused.

"Cursed?"

"Yeah…. like proper down the bloodline since Wyatt's day cursed…." she clarified "Wynonna is the Earp heir, her gun peacemaker sends Wyatt Earp's dead outlaws back to hell, that guy in the diner…. he was one of them…"

"That's why he attacked us…or you?" Nicole asked

"Yeah, revenants want to kill Wynonna because they don't want to go back to hell and I suppose if they can't get her they might as well get me"

Nicole's head whipped around at that "Are there more of these revenants after you?" she asked worried

Waverly shrugged "I suppose…. but they really want Wynonna"

Nicole didn't know what to say or think, she was trying to process this new and troubling information when Waverly added some more information

"Oh and Doc is Doc Holliday, THE Doc Holliday and Dolls is part of a covert government department"

Nicole nodded slowly "And that's why you're upset about Doc leaving, he's a link to the curse and you're family's past….. It makes sense" She sat and thought about all of the things that had been happening in Purgatory since she'd been there, then said slowly "Do these revenants live at the trailer park with Bobo Del Ray?"

Waverly was surprised "They do, he's there leader, how did you..?"

Nicole looked slightly offended "I'm a police officer, Waverly, it's my job to figure these things out, I just didn't know that they were all hell spawn, I suppose it makes sense now that you were okay with my background"

"Like I said, If there are demons why not angels?" Waverly shrugged "Speaking of angels….." She looked at Nicole waiting for her to explain what she meant the other day when she said that healing could be dangerous

"The 'dangerous' thing?" Nicole asked, hoping Waverly had forgotten about it.

Waverly nodded "mm-hmm"

"Oohh" Nicole laughed a laugh that she desperately hoped sounded genuine "I…I didn't mean _dangerous_ dangerous" she fake laughed again "It was just a figure of speech…." She looked at Waverly and hoped that was enough to get her off the subject. Waverly really didn't seem convinced, so Nicole tried to think of more to say that would get her out of this conversation and convince Waverly that there was no danger "Er…well, I just meant that if i'm injured in some way and people see and then I heal myself and people notice the bruise or cut has gone they might get suspicious and.." She was rambling. She swallowed nervously and continued "…Who knows what they might suspect in a town full of demons" She smiled trying again to make light of the fact that she had used the word dangerous without thinking about the consequences, after all she couldn't tell Waverly the truth.

Waverly was in no way convinced by Nicole's answer, but it didn't matter because they were interrupted again this time by Nicole's police radio.

"Officer Haught, please come in…" A voice said

Nicole quickly grabbed the radio and pressed the button on the side

"This is officer Haught, go ahead"

"Nicole we need you to come back to the station" A voice that sounded like Nedley said "We have an influx of people who will need to be processed.."

"I'm on my way, Sheriff" Nicole said before starting the police car

"You know" Waverly started innocently as she turned to sit in her seat properly as they pulled away "You aren't a very good liar…"

Nicole turned quickly to look at her with surprise, she thought she'd done quite well, obviously not "I'm good liar" She protested "Just not with you" She smiled. And it was true.

"I can't wait for the poker spectacular tomorrow, i'm going to rob you blind" Waverly laughed

Nicole didn't doubt it.


	5. Chapter 5

Nicole had been calling and texting Waverly all morning with no reply. She had the day off and hoped they could spend some of it together. She was starting to get a little bit worried now though, Nedley had mentioned that Wynonna had taken one of the women from the cult home last night and Nicole's imagination was running wild.

"I'm just being silly aren't I?" She asked Thunderbolt as she sat on the sofa looking at her phone "Someone who's been in a cult for years couldn't be a threat….they all seemed very….mellow…. they wouldn't be brainwashed, would they?….or easily startled in the night… and lash out…." Thunderbolt just stared at her for a moment then turned back to looking out of the window.

Nicole had successfully freaked herself out at the thought and decided to give it one more shot before she went to the Earp homestead to check on her girlfriend. She picked up her phone and just as she was about to call that super cute picture of Waverly smiling popped up on the screen.

She answered it quickly "Hi Wave!"

"Hey, I saw all your calls and stuff…" She said in a distracted voice

"Yeah, sorry I was just checking you were alright…..you sound….are you okay?" Nicole asked concerned, Waverly was not sounding her normal bubbly self

"It's just been hectic here….but i'm….i'm fine…."

"Are you still up for the poker spectacular tonight?" Nicole asked hopefully trying to cheer Waverly up

"Oh yeah, sure…."

"Are you sure you're okay? I can come to the homestead if you'd like…."

"No, no that's fine, i'll come to you…..are you at work?"

"No, i'm off today, i'm just sitting here with Thunderbolt…"

"Okay, i'll pop round in an hour or so okay?" Waverly cut in and then hung up

—

Nicole looked up from what she was doing when Thunderbolt started meowing at her from her favourite spot at the window. She got up and saw Waverly jumping out of her jeep from the window. She smiled as she watched her girlfriend whip her scarf around her neck and shove her hands in her coat pockets to hide them from the cold.

"She's here" she said quietly smiling, Thunderbolt looked up at her and meowed again as Nicole tickled her head and quickly moved towards her front door. She waited there for the sound of Waverly's footsteps and opened it just as she reached the door.

Waverly stood in the open doorway with a confused look on her face and her hand raised ready to knock

"Hey" Nicole beamed

"Err, hey!" Waverly said in confusion

"I saw you coming.." Nicole gestured towards the window with her head

"Oh" Waverley said absently as she walked in.

Nicole watched her with concern as she took off her big coat and placed it onto the back of one of the dinning chairs. She had on a patterned skirt and gold sparkly top, the bottom of which barely touched the top of the skirt. It looked nice from the back and fantastic from the front, but her top didn't distract Nicole from Waverly's sad expression.

"Are you alright? you seemed distracted on the phone and.." Nicole stopped when Waverly walked straight up to her, buried her face in her chest and wrapped her arms around Nicole's waist. Nicole was surprised for a moment, it wasn't like they hadn't hugged before but this was different, Waverly held on to her like she needed the support or wanted Nicole to envelop her.

Nicole wrapped her arms around Waverly and placed her chin on top of her head and gave a small squeeze. They didn't say anything for what felt to Nicole like an age. She slowly brushed her hands up and down Waverly's back, but as Waverly squashed her face into Nicole more she had to say something.

"Wave, honey, please tell me what's wrong…" she said softly

Waverly moved her head to the side so she could speak, she sighed "I just needed…to see a friendly face…to see you"

"What's happened?" Nicole asked softly

After a moment Waverly pulled away, but didn't look up. She then shook her head and tried to smile convincingly "It's nothing"

Nicole reached up and moved the hair out of Waverly's face softly and cupped her cheek with her hand "Pretty sure that's a lie" she smiled

Waverly looked up at her, she couldn't help but be surprised by Nicole. There was no chance Champ would have persisted this much, he would have just made some puerile joke about sex and tried to distance himself from the whole conversation, but not Nicole, she wanted to help, needed to help. She smiled a little as Nicole started rubbing her cheek with her thumb.

She sighed "You know Wynonna let that girl Eve come home with her?….. Well it turns out that she isn't Eve…. she's Willa.."

"Willa? your sister?" Nicole asked

"Yup" Waverly said somewhat sadly and stepped away from Nicole

Nicole watched her walk away "Isn't… isn't that a good thing?"

"It should be…." Waverly started "..it is….but it's like having a stranger in the house, I was only six when she died, or when we thought she'd died, and now…..I don't know her" She shook her head "The girl I knew used to take my toys and … pull them apart or hide them, and her and Wynonna would always leave me out of things because I was younger…." She sighed

Nicole walked over to Waverly and hugged her again resting her cheek on her head, Waverly wrapped her arms round her again.

"You know you are always welcome here, if you ever need to get away or talk or just sit quietly or whatever, you can come here.." Nicole said and she could feel Waverly smile against her chest

"Thank you" she said into Nicole

"And if you don't want to go to the Poker Spectacular later we don't have to go, we could just go out for dinner or stay in…"

Waverly pulled away, but not enough for their arms to unwrap, and smiled up at her girlfriend "You really are an angel" She said and raised up on her tiptoes and kissed Nicole.

Nicole smiled "Half angel" she corrected with a wink

—

Later that evening they arrived at the local Italian restaurant that Nicole had wanted to try for a while. Waverly really hadn't felt like going to a big gathering of people, who would more than likely get drunk and rowdy and this place was nice and intimate. They were seated against a wall on a table for two.

"How are you feeling?" Nicole asked

"I'm okay….It's just so much to take in, you know? It's been just me and Wynonna for so long…well until she went away, but it was me and her, together, no dad, no mom….. and now suddenly Willa comes back from the dead…" She shook her head "I don't know…."

Nicole reached her hand across the table sympathetically towards Waverly, who looked up and smiled "Ergh, enough about my dysfunctional family…" Waverly said not really wanting to think or talk about the whole situation. She just wanted to enjoy a nice dinner with her girlfriend and not think about what waited for her at home "…I bet your family is no where near as crazy as mine huh?" Waverly smiled "although I don't think i've heard you talk about them"

"Heh!" Nicole laughed to herself and thought about her family. There was no way they were less dysfunctional than Waverly's. "No, I suppose I don't talk about them…" Where would she start?

They were silent for a moment until there food came. "Oh this looks nice" Nicole said as the plate of pasta was placed in front of her, hoping to change the subject.

Waverly looked at her dinner as well but said "You don't have to if you don't want…talk about your family I mean" she smiled

Nicole started to say something but stopped. She smiled at Waverly and sighed "I wouldn't know where to start…..I've never really spoken about them to anyone, not the truth anyway….."

"Well, do you have any brothers or sisters?" Waverly asked before taking a bite of her dinner

"I don't, no….. heh, I think one child was risky enough" she smiled

Waverely cocked her head in question, she still had her mouth full

Nicole looked around the restaurant to make sure there wasn't really anyone in earshot "My mother… well, she wasn't meant to even be here, on earth … and to have one child with a human… they….. they certainly didn't approve of that" Nicole said in hushed tones with a distant look in her eyes

"They?" Waverly asked

"Some of the other angels…. after I was born my parents moved around a lot, we didn't really stay anywhere for too long, I remember when I was about four, I think it was, my mother woke me in the middle of the night and made me grab my things and we jumped in the car and drove….for days as far as I can remember"

"The other angels were after your mom?" Waverly asked

Nicole nodded "For a long time I didn't know why it was we had to move around so much, I knew my mother was…special I suppose, she had an aura about her, not one you could see, but you could feel it and see it in other people when she was around them, I didn't understand it as a child though… my father explained it all to me after my mother…." Nicole looked up to see Waverly watching her.

Waverly hadn't seen Nicole this venerable before, she was always so strong. Waverly leaned forward and placed her hand over Nicole's on the table, she stroked her thumb over the top of Nicole's fingers brushing the ring on her finger "You don't have to tell me, if you don't want…"

"No, it's okay…" Nicole looked at their hands noticing the silver and green ring. "That was the last thing my mother gave me" Nicole said moving her hand and touching the ring with her thumb.

Waverly smiled "I wondered why you always wear it…I don't think i've seen you without it"

Nicole's face dropped a little "When I was about ten my mother took me out of school in the middle of the day, she didn't have to tell me why, we rushed back to the flat we were living in at the time, my father was already packing our things into the car, they told me to grab my things and get in the car, we drove until it was dark" Nicole didn't take her eyes off the ring "I could hear them talking in the front of the car, saying how it was too late, that this time they had been too careless…. She gave me her ring that night, put it around my neck on some ribbon and told me never to take it off, not long after that the car… something hit us, the car span out of control, flew off the road, hit a tree or something, the windows smashed and glass went everywhere… the next thing I remember was bright white lights outside the car, making it seem like daylight, I saw my father unconscious in the front and my mother was being dragged out of the car…. then the light vanished … that was the last time I saw her"

"Oh my god Nicole, I had no idea…"

Nicole smiled a little "No one does, my father told me never to tell anyone, he said that they might come for me next, the ring, my mother's ring…hides me from them…when I heal myself it… they can sense it somehow, but the ring counteracts that…"

"That's way you said it was dangerous…" Waverly said

"If I don't _need_ to heal, I don't, it's not worth the risk" Nicole said. She looked at Waverly, she really hadn't told anyone that before, but she trusted Waverly, I mean she's been dealing with demon for a while so she couldn't really think any of this was too weird. "So, who's family is crazier now then?" she smiled and laughed a little

Waverly cocked her head to the side and smiled "I thought I was doing pretty well, but then you go and try to beat me" she laughed

—

"You don't have to walk me to my car y'know" Waverly said putting her arm through Nicole's as they walked out of the restaurant

"It's all part of the service ma'am" Nicole said with a smile squeezing Waverly's arm with her own

Waverly laughed and leaned into Nicole, she liked that they could spend a little bit more time together and she was glad that they now didn't have any secrets, or at least no big ones anyway. Now that they had shared so much, she felt closer to Nicole.

They walked a little further towards Waverly's car and Nicole's flat in comfortable silence, then Waverly said shyly "You could always just walk me back to your place"

Nicole turned to look at her, not entirely sure what that might mean. Waverly looked up at her and saw Nicole's reaction, realising how that sounded.

"Oh, I mean, I didn't mean…." she fumbled "I just meant I don't want the evening to end quite yet" She smiled blushing a little. She didn't really want to go home yet either.

"Me either" Nicole smiled back "I can walk you wherever you'd like to go, just name it"

"Your place."

"Yes, ma'am" Nicole smiled

As they walked slowly back to Nicole's flat Nicole looked up at the clear sky "I love the sky out here" she said distracted "You can't see the stars in the city, but here….It's just so beautiful… I've missed it"

Waverly looked up as well "You should see it from the homestead, it's even better"

—

"I'm sorry about this evening" Nicole said as they took off their coats and hung them up.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you came to see me to get away from family drama and then I spend most of the evening telling you all of mine"

"Don't be ridiculous" Waverly said placing her arm on Nicole's "I'm glad you told me, now we can compare how screwed up our families and childhoods were" she laughed

"Would you like a drink?" Nicole asked as she moved towards the kitchen

"I have to drive home so maybe just some lemonade, if you have any" Waverly answered sitting on the sofa

After a moment Nicole came and sat next to Waverly with two glasses of lemonade. She placed them on the coffee table and placed one leg under herself and turned so she was sitting facing Waverly.

Waverly turned towards her "Did you _have_ to leave the city, is that why you came to Purgatory? Did they find you there?"

Nicole tilted her head "I didn't see anyone specifically, but I had a feeling, maybe I was being paranoid, I don't know, but when the job came up here I thought it might be nice to go somewhere new, somewhere smaller, and it's nice here, I like it" She smiled

"Like?" Waverly asked a little upset

"Yeah, I like it" Nicole smiled cheekily "…mostly…there are some things I like more than others…there is this really cute girl who works in a bar, I like her a lot more than others…" She winked at Waverly and Waverly's heart skipped a beat, she blushed a little and laughed.

Nicole studied Waverly's face as she smiled and looked down at the attention "You know in the whole of that big city I never once met anyone like you" Nicole said smiling

"Well, I can pull a pint better than anyone" Waverly laughed

"You shouldn't underestimate yourself, you are one of the smartest people I've met, you've done all of those courses and you're great at researching…" Nicole still studied Waverly "You are also the most beautiful person I have ever seen" she smiled "The first time I saw you.." she paused to find the right words

"You mean when I was sopping wet covered with beer?" Waverly laughed at the memory

Nicole smiled as well and laughed "Well, that was the first time I _spoke_ to you, it wasn't the first time I saw you, the first time I saw you you were walking towards Shorty's, you looked like you were in a rush, but you looked happy in the sun, then you met someone coming towards you and your face just lite up with a smile that was so distracting I nearly missed a red light" Nicole smiled "The whole day I hoped that one day I could make you smile like that"

Waverly smiled cheekily "You thought about me all day?" she teased

Nicole blushed a little "I kept seeing you around town and could never get up the nerve to talk to you" she smiled "But then there was that disturbance at Shorty's and I had to investigate it, for some reason it didn't cross my mind that you would be in there, but when I got there and saw you at the bar…. you know I was actually meant to ask you questions about that disturbance" she laughed

"Couldn't manage it though, huh?" Waverly teased again

"You were quite the distraction…..you still are" She smiled and before she could prepare herself Waverly had reached out, held her cheek and kissed her.

As they kissed Waverly slowly pushed Nicole back so she was eventually laying with her head on the arm rest of the sofa with Waverly on top of her. Nicole moved the leg that she had been sitting on so it was resting up against the back sofa cushions and Waverly was between her legs with her full weight on her.

During the kiss Waverly caught Nicole's lip between her own and to both of there surprise Nicole let out a small moan. Nicole pulled away slightly breaking the kiss "Oh, sorry, I.."

Waverly laughed "Don't be" she said quietly before kissing Nicole again. She found it funny that she would apologise for that, funny and cute. She moved one of her hands to rest on Nicole's chest and the other on her cheek as they continued to kiss.

While Waverly's hands stayed pretty much where they were, Nicole's had started to roam a little. They had started on Waverly's back, but had slowly moved down and ended up where Waverly's gold top had barely touched the top of her skirt, when her hands had reached there she felt a thin sliver of skin. Nicole couldn't help but push her hands under the top to feel the warm skin underneath.

Nicole was so engrossed in the kiss and the feel of Waverly's skin she hadn't noticed Waverly stiffen a little, and as her breathing got quicker and the kiss intensified she moved one hand down Waverly's back, under the waist band of her skirt and underwear and found herself squeezing Waverly's bum.

She immediately knew she had gone too far when Waverly stiffen again and pulled away from the kiss quickly. Nicole moved her hands away quickly at the sight of Waverly's discomfort and distress.

"I'm sorry…" Waverly said looking away

"No no, i'm sorry, it's my fault.." Nicole said quickly putting her hands up and feeling awful that she had gone to far.

"No, I just.."

Nicole shook her head and quickly but awkwardly pulled herself up the sofa untangling her legs from Waverly's and standing "I shouldn't have… I mean I didn't mean to make you feel.." Nicole spluttered as she moved to lean against the kitchen counter

Waverly kneeled on the middle of the sofa and watched as Nicole tried to get her breath back. "I'm sorry"

"Waves.." Nicole said trying to slow her breathing "You have nothing to apologise for, this was my fault, I wasn't thinking straight, you know i'd never mean to make you feel uncomfortable and i'd never pressure you into something you weren't ready for" she shook her head apologetically.

They were both silent for a moment.

"Soon, Nicole" Waverly said quietly. Then after a moment "I should go" she said solemnly getting up off the sofa. Nicole just nodded

"I really didn't mean to ruin the whole of our day, what with the meal and …" Nicole said following Waverly to the door

Waverly turned around "Don't be silly, you didn't, we had a great evening" she said smiling and touching Nicole's cheek and leaning up and kissing her softly "It's alight. I'll call you tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay. Text me when you get home too" Nicole said leaning against the door frame and watching Waverly walk down the corridor

"I will" Waverly smiled back and waved


	6. Chapter 6

"What the fuck do you mean you've been shot" Nicole shouted down the phone shooting out of her seat, luckily she was the only person in the main police office

"Oh! Officer Haught, what kind of language is that?" Waverly laughed with surprise, she'd never heard Nicole swear before

"What?" Nicole couldn't actually remember what she'd just said, she was more focused on the fact that Waverly had just told her she'd been shot "It doesn't matter what I said, you've been shot? What happened? Are you at the hospital? I'll come as quickly…"

"No, no, I didn't go to the hospital, i'm at the homestead"

"You didn't go to hospital? why on earth not?" Nicole sounded both annoyed and worried

"Dolls was here and he has first aid…"

"Dolls? what…?" Nicole sighed "Okay, i'm coming over"

—

"Oh shit" Wynonna said to herself when she saw a police car park in front of the homestead. She was trying to fit a piece of wood over where the glass had been in the front door, until a shit load of gun fire had smashed it.

"Hey Wynonna" Nicole said as she walked quickly to the door where Wynonna was.

"Hello Officer" Wynonna said somewhat officially, Dolls had said that the police wouldn't be involved with what had happened earlier and Wynonna was preparing herself for some awkward questions and answers

Nicole took her hat off as she reached the door "I'm not here on official business, don't worry" she smiled as she noticed Wynonna relax "Waverly told me she'd been hurt …. I just thought i'd check she was …okay" she smiled hoping it seemed like she was just a concerned friend and not a girlfriend who was absolutely panicking at not knowing what was going on.

"Oh, sure, okay, well she's just through there in bed resting" Wynonna pointed into the house and moved out of the way to let Nicole in "Do you want me to…"

"No, that's okay, I know the way" Nicole cut Wynonna off and tried not to run through the house to Waverly

As she got to where Waverly was she noticed she was trying to get out of bed "Hey what are you doing? You should be resting" she said concerned

"I heard you talking to Wynonna" Waverly said wincing as she moved to swing her legs over the side of the bed

Nicole put her arms out to stop Waverly standing "Okay, stay there.." She looked her up and down but couldn't work out where she'd been shot

Waverly saw her looking "You didn't have to come over, it isn't all that bad.."

"Of course I had to come….. I mean, un-unless you didn't want me to, after…" Nicole worried that after last night and her wondering hands maybe Waverly needed a little time away from her.

"After…? Last night?" Waverly asked "Don't be ridiculous, just forget about that, okay" She smiled raising her arm up to touch Nicole's face and kiss her, but immediately regretting it as pain shot through her side "Ouch, oow, oooh" She screwed her face up in pain and pulled her arm back.

Nicole stepped forward quickly, to do what she wasn't sure. "Are you…"

"It's okay.."

"Are you sure?.."

"Yeah, it's just.." Waverly pointed under her arm to try to show where she'd been shot, though her face was still pained. She leaned back a bit on the bed until the pain had worn off.

Nicole stood in front of her still not knowing quite what to do, as Waverly's pained face relaxed Nicole leaned forward and kissed her girlfriends forehead. She looked around the room and saw a chair against the wall. She took it and set it just to the side of Waverly and sat down.

Waverly smiled at her "It's only a scratch really" She reassured "look.." She pulled her shirt up to show the bandage on her side

Nicole's eyes tried to only look at the bandage and not the amount of bare skin in front of her. She noticed that blood had started to leak into the bandage, she reached forward to point it out, but quickly pulled her arm away and folded them in front of herself. Waverly notice her do it.

"It looks like you may have opened up the wound again when you moved" She said to Waverly "There's blood on the bandage…"

Waverly rolled her eyes at herself "Ohhh" she said disappointed

"Do you have any more, I can change it… or I could get Wynonna to…."

Waverly looked at her suspiciously, took her hand and placed it on her bare side, she noticed Nicole's breath hitch and her eyes widen with surprise.

Waverley lowered her voice "You can touch me, Nicole, I don't mine" She smiled "And I told you to forget about last night"

Nicole was just about to lean up and kiss Waverly when she saw movement out of the corner of her eye. She quickly moved her hand and stood, trying to look like nothing was going on.

"Why is there a police officer in the house?" Willa said loudly to no one in particular as she stood in the doorway holding a mug

"I'm officer Haught, erm Nicole" She said holding out her hand to Willa "I'm … a friend of your sister, sisters, both of your sisters" This was a disaster Nicole thought, she must know something was up

Willa just looked down at Nicole's hand

"I just came by to see how she was…" Nicole said turning to Waverly

Wynonna came and stood behind Willa "It's okay Willa, she's not here as an officer of the law…."

"Hmmm" Willa said as she turned and left

Wynonna smiled at them, lifted her hammer up and made a worried face at them "Nearly done" she said turning "I think…although it may not be water tight" she said under her breath as she walked away

Nicole waited until they had both gone before turning back to Waverly "You haven't told her? about me?"

"No, of course not, you said it could be dangerous"

"Dangerous?" Nicole was confused

"Yeah, what if it somehow got out? I know Wynonna wouldn't deliberately spill, but what if Dolls found out and then the Black Badge…"

Nicole stared at her for a second trying to figure out why the Black Badge would get involved, then she realised "Oh no, not about that, I meant about.." She lowered her voice "..us"

"Oh, erm, no I haven't, not yet.." Waverly said smiling apologetically "I haven't mentioned either… thing" She smiled again "Speaking of the _other_ thing, why not err, y'know…" she jerked her head towards her side

"You know I can't heal other people…"

"Have you tried?" Waverly smiled cheekily

"Waverly… even if I could, how many people have already seen this…" she pointed towards the wound "How would you explain it suddenly vanishing?"

"Yeah, well, okay" Waverly said resigned

Nicole started to take off the old bandage and clean the wound up "You know that I would if I could" she said glancing up at Waverly

"Of course" Waverly said smiling and carefully moving a strand of Nicole's hair and tucking it behind her ear

"I hate the thought of you being hurt or in pain…"

"Is that why you rushed over here in record time?" Waverly laughed

Nicole sat up straight "I was worried" She protested

Waverly laughed again, sometimes it was too easy to wind Nicole up "I know, I was only teasing" she smiled reaching out to Nicole with her free and painless arm and pulled her in for a kiss "I'm glad you're here"

Nicole smiled "Me too and i'm glad this is only a graze, but how exactly did it happen?"

"A group of men started to shoot the place up" Waverly shrugged

"Revenants?" Nicole asked as she concentrated on her redressing

"No, they can't come on our land, these guys were after Dolls"

"After Dolls? Why…? Hold on, what do you mean revenants can't come on your land?"

"The homestead is built on a bedrock of ammolite, so the revenants can't step foot here, pretty handy huh?" Waverly smiled

As she was placing the bandage over the wound Nicole's police radio went off "Officer Haught, can you come back to the station, Doris has set up a meeting that she forgot to tell anyone about…again"

Nicole held the bandage with one hand and grabbed her radio with the other "Yes Sheriff, i'm on my way" She quickly taped the bandage down carefully "Sorry Waves, I gotta go, the new bandage should be good until tomorrow, as long as you don't go moving around too much" She said pointedly at Waverly as she stood "I could, erm, I could come by tomorrow and change it if you'd like?"

"Yeah" Waverly smiled

"Great" she beamed "Okay, so rest up and i'll see you tomorrow" Nicole picked her hat up from where she had thrown it on the bed earlier and went to leave

"Officer?" Waverly said as she reached the door "Aren't you forgetting something?"

Nicole looked confused for a moment then smiled and quickly glanced through the door to make sure no one was there, then returned to Waverly and leaned down to kiss her

Waverly was still smiling from Nicole's visit when Willa walked back into the room

"She changed your dressing?" she asked harshly

"Yes, she's a police officer, she's had training in….."

"Did she use that poison?" Willa pointed to the antiseptic cream that was on the chair Nicole had been sitting on

"It's not poison, Willa, it's antiseptic.."

"Show me" Willa interrupted

Waverly slowly raised her arm and shirt trying not to open the wound up again "See, it's fine, she knows… JESUS Willa" Waverly shouted as Willa without any warning ripped off the dressing that Nicole had just put on.

"That stuff is poison, you should be using coconut oil, I used it on all of the cuts and bruises at the commune.."

"I bet you did" Waverly said quietly letting her sister finish redressing her wound and ruining her mood

Nicole knocked on the homestead door and waited. There was no reply, she knocked again. Again there was no reply, she decided to try the door, it opened and Nicole walked in slowly.

"Hello? Waverly?" She called into the house

"Hey, I'm in here" Waverly shouted from her position in bed, she smiled when Nicole appeared in the doorway.

"Hey" Nicole said. She looked around the room to see if anyone else was there but only saw Waverly sitting up on top of the bed with her laptop on her lap "Are you here alone? Did they leave you here on your own with the door unlocked?"

"Yes, but don't worry, i'm prepared" She smiled widely moving her hand to her side and lifting up a shotgun that had been hiding next to her "And you know this isn't that bad" she finished lifting her arm a little to indicate her wound "I can always get up and run" she smiled as Nicole sat on the side of the bed facing Waverly and leaned in for a kiss.

"Hhmmm" Waverly hummed contentedly when Nicole pulled away "You know, with no one around…" she pulled Nicole's face close again and kissed her more passionately, Nicole leaned further forward and placed her hand on the bed the other side of Waverly so she could steady herself. As Nicole pushed Waverly back against the headboard Waverly moved her laptop off of her lap awkwardly and shuffled down the bed a bit so that they would be laying on the bed, but before they could get that far Nicole pulled away

"Wait, wait Waverly, i'm on my lunch break, w-we can't get distracted….and what if your sister comes in? Either of them…. or both of them!" Nicole didn't like that thought of Willa walking in, there was something about her and she didn't want to say anything she might regret to Waverly's sister, however much she didn't like her.

Waverly looked disappointed, it's not often they are alone in her house, she wanted to enjoy the moment "They wont and even if they did we could alway just pop out…"

"Pop out?"

"Yeah, pop out into the barn" Waverly smiled cheekily "There's a bed in there…"

Nicole smiled at the implications of that and she may have blushed a little at the thought of sneaking around like teenagers so that the 'grownups' didn't catch them "Come on, stop trying to distract me, let me see your bandage"

Waverly grudgingly shuffled closer to Nicole and back up the bed then raised her shirt "How does it look?" she asked

Nicole carefully took off the dressing and took a good look, running her fingers over the skin beneath the wound "It's already looking a lot better" she said happily smiling up at Waverly

"Good" Waverly replied

As Nicole turned to get the new dressing and antiseptic cream Waverly also turned to get her laptop. She dragged it one handed across the bed so that it was next to her. With one arm in the air holding her shirt up she used the other to awkwardly look on her computer.

"So, as no one will let me do anything except rest here, I thought i'd do a little research" she said as Nicole started to redress her wound "I was looking up what your ring could be and how it might do what it does, so I went through a list of all of the things it _could_ be" Waverly said looking at her computer, not Nicole "like, I was thinking that maybe it had some kind of mystical power or, heh, I suppose heavenly.." she laughed at herself "but who would give it that power? Was there a group out there giving items protective powers? Who would they be? How would they do it? I mean, a lot of the time enchantments need to have some sort of symbol to stick to, and your ring doesn't have any markings like that on it, it couldn't be that, but also how many times could an angel have come to earth and needed to hide? If that happened a lot surely i'd have read about it when I was looking into the revenants and all of the stuff relating to demons…" Nicole had stopped what she was doing and stared at Waverly in awe, she knew that Waverly did a lot of research on the revenants and the Earp curse, but hearing that someone can do something and seeing them doing it are two different things, is it possible that Waverly just got even more attractive?

"So, if there isn't some guild of people enchanting things, where did it come from? Well, I looked at some other possibilities…" Waverly continued her free hand waving about with enthusiasm "It could be that the material the ring is made of has some sort of power, and I found out that there are only a couple of minerals that could be the one in your ring and after a little more research, well, it was a lot of research actually…" she smiled and quickly turned to look at Nicole then looked back at her laptop "I found that it was…" Waverly tailed off as she realised that Nicole was just sitting watching her, she turned back to her "Is…What?…Is everything okay?" she suddenly worried

Nicole smiled sweetly "Everything's fine, I was just…I was listening, i've never seen you in full research mode and… I was just enjoying it"

Waverly started to blush "Oh, heh, I was..I was just curious and while I had the time…"

"I know" Nicole said softly "Carry on, i'd like to know" She smiled, then got back to redressing Waverly's gun shot wound

Waverly now felt self conscious, but carried on "Okay, well, I found that it was more than likely going to be made out of a mineral called green apatite, I mean it could also have some sort of enchantment on it or something else, because how would just a mineral do all that it does, right? But, I have only had a day and a bit to investigate, so I might find something else later, but anyway this green apatite, in my research I found that it has a lot of attributes to do with healing and replenishing energy and that it helps with the formation of new cells, which I thought was interesting considering you healing ability, erm and, I mean of course a lot of things to do with 'crystal healing' can be taken with a pinch of salt, but these sorts of ideas, like many, do have some foundation in reality. So that's what i've found." She finished quite abruptly and turned to Nicole a little sheepish and embarrassed, she really hoped Nicole was actually interested and that she hadn't just wasted her time.

Nicole looked up as she just finished taping down the bandage, she opened her mouth to say something when Waverly quickly raised her finger to stop her and said "And I forgot, the name 'apatite' comes from a greek word meaning 'to deceive', which I thought was interesting too as it conceals you" then she stopped and put her hand down smiling sheepishly again

Nicole smiled widely "You did all that research just for my ring?"

"Yeah, it is a special ring, you know?"

Nicole laughed "Yes I know" she smiled

"I was just thinking about how it keeps you safe and that it must have kept you mother safe as well…."

"Thank you" Nicole smiled and leaned in to kiss Waverly, Waverly smiled proudly back, she was about to kiss Nicole again when she heard the front door open and Wynonna, Willa and Doc come in.

Nicole pulled down Waverly's shirt and stood up "I should be getting back anyway, I still have to eat lunch" She quickly leaned down and gave Waverly a quick kiss then made her way to the door, she turned "Shall I come back tomorrow?" she asked

"Yeah, that'd be nice, I might have more information for you too" she smiled

"I'll call you later"

Again, after Nicole left Willa walked into the room "Why does she keep coming here and changing your bandage?" She asked

"She's my friend Willa, she's concerned, that's all" Waverly said slightly miserably

"Let me see…" Willa said making her way over to Waverly to look at the bandage


	7. Chapter 7

Nicole stood up and threw the bandage she was holding on the table and walked out. She knew Willa was Waverly's sister, but boy did she want to give her a piece of her mind. She stood by the front door after she pulled it closed and took a breath trying to calm herself down a little. She glimpsed the barn as she was about to walk to her car, she remembered what Waverly had said yesterday about if they just 'popped out' to the barn. She wondered if Waverly had meant going to the barn just now when she said she should 'pop out'. She must have done, the words were too specific not to mean that. She's pretty sure she'd have figured that out quicker if Willa hadn't riled her up by being so damned condescending.

She walked over to the barn and was glad of the warmth of it when she entered. Looking around she saw the makeshift bed and sat on the edge. As she looked around she wondered if it was right to tell your girlfriend that you don't like her sister, probably not she thought as she got up and walked over to Wynonna's motorbike that was stood opposite the bed. She'd always liked the idea of a bike. She stood next to it and lightly touched the handlebars and moved her hand down the rest of it's body as she thought. Telling your girlfriend that you dislike her sister really wasn't something she should say to Waverly, they'd thought Willa was dead for years, to have her back and have your girlfriend dislike her probably wasn't helpful, she didn't want to get between Waverly and Willa, especially with everything else that's always going on.

As she wondered back to the bed she heard the barn door closing and saw Waverly slowly walking in. Nicole leaned against the wall next to the bed.

"I'm sorry" Waverly said apologetically looking away from Nicole "I should have told you about Willa redressing…I just…I..I liked you coming over…. and taking care of me, y'know?" She shrugged and smiled shyly

Nicole smiled "I liked it too…" she agreed softly

Waverly smiled at hearing that "And… I know I should have said something to Willa…i'm sorry"

Nicole stayed where she was as Waverley stepped closer to the bed

"It's just….I…I've never been very good at sticking up for myself with her….she always sort of scared me as a kid, y'know, she was so much older, she would pick on me, take my toys and torture them, and whenever Wynonna was playing with me she'd butt in and take Wynonna away…." Waverly sat on the end of the bed shaking her head "Having her around again just makes me feel like I did as a child, having her…bully me, push me around…and taking Wynonna away" she winced a bit at saying it out loud, she wasn't a child any more, surely she shouldn't still feel that way "I know I shouldn't think it, having her back is a miracle….but…the other day I followed Willa and Wynonna out here…. you know what I heard?" she asked sadly

Nicole just shook her head not really wanting to interrupt Waverly

"Willa said 'you're not alone any more'" She smiled sadly looking on the verge of tears "… as if I didn't even exist, like I haven't been here this whole time with Wynonna" she shook her head getting angry all over again at the thought of it "I didn't say anything to her because she wouldn't have listened to me…." Waverly sighed "Having her here, walking around on egg shells all the time, being shot I…..I'm exhausted" she sighed

"Hey…" Nicole said as she pushed herself off the wall and made her way towards Waverly on the bed. She sat behind her and carefully brushed Waverly's hair away from her neck and kissed it softly "I know baby". She could feel Waverly relax and tilt her head to the side so that more of her neck was available for kissing. Nicole was more than happy to take advantage and kissed her again.

But Waverly couldn't wait. She turned her head to find Nicole's lips, it seemed like forever ago that they had some time together by themselves and with the way Waverly was feeling, she didn't want to waste it. As she kissed Nicole she moved her hand to her face, relishing the feel of her soft skin. The thought of more soft skin raced through her mind and she felt the need to feel more, she moved her hands away from Nicole's face and found the bottom of her jumper, without much warning she pulled it up. Nicole was slightly surprise, but was more than happy to help and quickly threw her jumper behind her and reached for Waverly's shirt. Nicole pulled Waverly's shirt over her head and threw it to the side, Waverly still had on a vest but this was going in the direction Nicole had been hoping for for a while. She put her arms around Waverly and smiled into the kiss.

Unfortunately neither of them was paying enough attention to hear the barn door bang shut, Nicole opened her eye for just a second to look at the smile she could feel on Waverly's lips, but to her immense annoyance she saw Willa out of the corner of her eye.

"Shit" Nicole said pulling away from Waverly, she knew Waverly hadn't told Wynonna about them, so she sure hadn't told Willa.

Waverly turned to see what Nicole was looking at "Oh my god" Waverly whispered when she saw Willa

They both quickly grabbed their jumper and shirt and covered themselves up.

"Sorry" Willa said in shock "Wow, Wynonna never said anything about you being a…. a gay"

Was she serious? Nicole looked at Waverly only to see her look down in embarrassment, at least that look had better be embarrassment.

"Oh geez, you haven't told her" Willa continued

Nicole didn't like her tone and was getting really annoyed with her now, first she had put up with Willa sticking her nose in while she was changing Waverly's bandage, now she comes in here and tries to embarrass and shame her girlfriend. She really wanted to say something, but she knew she couldn't say what she wanted to say or do what she wanted to do without upsetting Waverly, so she quickly moved off the bed.

"I have to go" Nicole said, even though she didn't really want to or have to, but she couldn't shout at a girl who'd been in a weird cult for god knows how long. She hoped Waverly wouldn't be too annoyed at her for leaving.

She walked towards the door pulling her jumper back on "Call me later"

Nicole got in her car and sat for a moment, she had to calm down, she didn't want to drive angry. She took some breaths and was about to start the car and drive away when Waverly came out of the barn. She saw her and started walking over to the car.

Nicole wound down her window "Is everything okay?"

Waverly leaned her hip up against the car "Yeah, everything's fine"

"Do you think she'll say anything?"

"I don't know" Waverly sighed "I hope not… I mean, I want to tell Wynonna my way, y'know, not as some sort of damage control… I will tell her, I promise" She smiled

Nicole smiled back "Will you be alight, in there with her?" she asked motioning towards the house "You can come to mine if you'd like?"

"No, it'll be fine… we don't want to leave her alone for too long, so…." she said making a disappointed face

"Okay…Hey what are you wearing tonight? To this party thing?"

Waverly smiled widely "Like i'm going to tell you" she laughed "That would spoil the surprise" she said leaning through the window and kissing Nicole "I'll call you later"

"Okay" Nicole said and wound her window back up. She started her car and began to turn around to leave. As she looked in her rear view mirror to take a final look at her girlfriend, she saw Willa standing outside the barn watching her leave.

—

Nicole was still laying on the floor of the main office trying to get her breath back when Nedley had walked in looking for his daughter. The bullet had hit her so hard she was thrown against the office door with such force that she felt doubly winded, once from the bullet and once from the door. As she laid there the pain was slowly turning into an intense ache every time she breathed in and out and a huge bruising was definitely starting to develop. She had no intention of rushing to her feet even after Nedley had found her. To try to take her mind off the pain she had been thinking about how the evening had began and the contrast to how it had ended. When she saw Waverly coming down that flight of stairs at the party, looking like a beautiful mermaid, she was so glad that she had found her purple dress. She didn't think she would ever have another reason to wear it again so she'd boxed it up and put it at the back of her wardrobe. But the look on Waverly's face was well worth rummaging in the back of her wardrobe for it. She'd really hoped that they might be able to have a dance together, what with them both getting dressed up, but Bobo Del Ray seemed to have other ideas. She was also wondering what exactly was going on with the Earp sister. Waverly had mentioned something about staying near the exits at the party before having to go look after Willa, so there was obviously something they all knew about and it must have something to do with Willa, hence her holding a gun up to both her and Wynonna and Waverly. Then finally before Nedley had come in she had wondered what Waverly had said to make Willa put down her gun, well momentarily putting it down before shooting her.

But then Nedley had come rushing in looking for Chrissy so she had to forget about all of that. Luckily for her Nedley had told her that the Black Badge Division had taken over the area and was dealing with the aftermath of Bobo's poisoning, so after Nedley had found her and his daughter and they had both been checked by medics he'd sent her home to rest.

A few hours later there was a knock on the door and Thunderbolt sat up quickly from where she had been laying on Nicole's legs curled up comfortably, and she glared at the door. Nicole hadn't moved since she lowered herself onto her sofa, but she raised her head slightly off of the cushion "Who is it?" she shouted

"Hey, it's Waverly" came a quiet voice the other side of her door

"It's open" Nicole shouted back

Waverly popped her head around the edge of the door as she slowly opened it, smiling when she saw Nicole spread out on her sofa.

"Hey!" Nicole smiled trying to shimmy herself up the sofa, but regretting it straight away as pain shot to her chest

Waverly rushed over to her "Don't move, it's okay" she said putting her hand out to stop her moving, when she stopped Waverly sat on the edge of the sofa next to her.

"How are you feeling?" Waverly asked as she leaned forward and softly brushed Nicole's hair from her forehead. She stroked her cheek a little then rested her hand on Nicole's shoulder.

"I'm feeling like your sister shot me" Nicole smiled and laughed a little

Waverly smiled sadly, it hadn't been 20 minutes since she got off the phone from Wynonna and been told that Willa was dead. She wasn't sure if she felt like joking about her sister or Nicole being shot by said sister.

"You okay?" Nicole asked concerned, that wasn't the kind of smile she was aiming for from Waverly

"Yeah…" she lied. Not only was her sister dead and her girlfriend laying in front of her injured, there was now a possibility that she wasn't even and actual Earp.

Nicole could tell that wasn't true, but before she could ask again Waverly diverted the conversation "Does it hurt a lot?" she asked, her hand hovered over Nicole's chest. She had too much on her mind, too much to figure out, so she tried to concentrate on the situation in front of her now.

"Only when I breathe or move…" Nicole smiled as she pulled the neck of her t-shirt down so that part of the large developing bruise could be seen. Waverly cringed and lightly stroked the bruise, she could see it was one of those bruises that was only going to get darker and darker.

"I'm sorry…" she grimaced

"It's not your fault" Nicole shook her head

"I-I know, it's just…." She looked Nicole in the eye "I was so scared i'd lost you too…" her eyes filled with tears. She really needed this to be the end of the people she loved dying or getting hurt or leaving.

"Hey" Nicole took hold of Waverly's hand that was still on her chest "It's okay, i'm okay and i'm not going anywhere" she moved her other hand to Waverly's cheek to wipe away a tear.

Waverly sniffed and another tear rolled down her cheek when she blinked "Y-you promise?"

"I promise" Nicole reassured "You're stuck with me" She smiled

Waverly smiled and sniffed again "And you are stuck with me" she smiled back

"Sounds perfect" Nicole said as Waverly leaned down and kissed her slowly.

Waverly pulled away reluctantly after a minute "I'm sorry, I have to go and see Wynonna at the Ghost River gate, I was on my way there…" She smiled sadly again "but i'll be back later okay?"

"Of course, yeah" Nicole answered as Waverly stood up "Hey, do you want to take my spare keys? they're in the dish by the door, then, y'know, you can lock the door behind you and I wont have to attempt to get up to let you in" she smiled

"Really?"

"Yeah, of course"

Waverly smiled as she took the keys out of the green dish, was this a big step? She turned to Nicole and smiled "Okay"

She opened the door to leave

"Oh hey, what happened in the end? did you manage to find Willa?"

Waverly stopped and turned slightly towards Nicole, but didn't look directly at her "Wynonna did" Waverly answered matter of factly

"Well, that's good, is she back at the station? She did shoot an officer of the law after all" Nicole smiled slightly

Waverly turned to look at Nicole, after a short pause she replied "She dead."

"Oh, Wave…" Nicole tried to sit up again, but regretted it as pain erupted in her chest "ergh!" She laid back down with a grimace "Wave i'm so sorry, what happened…?"

"Wynonna…she said she had no choice" She wanted to say more but knew it would not be a short conversation "When I come back we can talk about it okay?" she said as she started to close the door behind her.

"Okay, be careful" Nicole shouted just as the door closed behind Waverly


	8. Chapter 8

Nicole rushed into the Black Badge Divisions offices to find Wynonna, Dolls and Doc standing together looking worried. Doc had his arm in a sling and when Wynonna turned towards her she saw she had three deep looking scratched across her cheek.

"Hey, I came as quickly as I could, What's going on?" Nicole asked in confusion

They all turned towards her but said nothing until Wynonna stepped forward "It's Waverly…."

"What - what do you mean? What's happened? Where is she" Nicole was getting worried

"She's in Dolls' office…. but she's not…..herself" Wynonna said moving closer to Nicole "She…she shot at me and Doc, and hit Doc" Wynonna said gesturing to Doc, who lifted the arm that was in a sling

"What?" Nicole smiled disbelieving "Waverly wouldn't…"

"Well she did. She also did this" Wynonna pointed to her cheek "and it really freakin' hurts, I can tell ya"

"That doesn't make sense…." Nicole said still not quite believing them

"Look, something happened to her out by the Ghost River Gate and she's….well, we don't know what…" Wynonna shook her head and shrugged

"What do you mean, you don't know? What happened?" Nicole was really starting to get worried and wanted some answers

"Come on, she's in here" Wynonna said walking towards Dolls' office "But…she isn't herself. At all. So be prepared for that, okay?"

Wynonna opened the door to Dolls' office and let Nicole walk in. As she did she saw Waverly sitting, arms and legs tied to a chair in the middle of the room. She had her head down, but lifted it as they entered the room, that's when Nicole saw her eyes, they weren't the sweet brown eyes she was used to looking into, they were completely black except for slightly lighter iris's. It also looked as if the black was leaking out and marking her face around her eyes. Nicole has never seen anything like it.

"Ah, there's my angel" a strange hollow sounding Waverly said. Nicole stiffened at being called that, she had never told anyone but Waverly about her heritage and she didn't have any intentions of telling anyone else, especially Wynonna, certainly not at the minute anyway. But when she looked quickly at Wynonna she was just rolling her eyes at what she must have thought was just a pet name.

"Waverly?" Nicole asked as she walked up to her, slowly leaning down to look into her face

"Well… No, I'm afraid not, Waverly isn't here any more" the hollow voice said with an evil grin

Nicole looked at Wynonna from where she stood next to Waverly "What the hell happened?" she asked angrily

"Ironically the person we'd need to figure that out isn't available….." Wynonna gestured to Waverly "The best we can figure out is that she's been possessed" Wynonna shrugged sadly leaning against the doorframe

"Possessed?" It laughed darkly "No" it smiled "that makes it sound like i'm sharing this body. I'm not. This tight little body is mine now, your sister.." It said to Wynonna "…your lover.." It said looking up at Nicole "Is no longer in here" It smiled as it watched Nicole walk behind her and around to the other side "But I remember everything, I know everything she knew…. everything." It smiled up at Nicole and winked, Nicole wasn't sure if that was some sort of threat. It kept looking at her as it continued "I remember getting shot, that was fun. I remember making out with you in that filthy barn, also fun. And i remember that sexy little moan you made when - "

"Okay, okay" Wynonna interrupted holding a hand up "I don't need to know about my baby sisters sex life, thanks"

It laughed loudly, it was a sound like nothing either of them had heard before, Waverly's laugh was infectious, sweet, endearing. This laugh was none of those things, it was dark, menacing and it sounded wrong coming out of Waverly's mouth "Sex life? Please, what with that bitch of a dead sister interrupting us and this one…" she nodded up at Nicole who was still behind her "..stopping because she _didn't think I was ready"_ she finished in a childish voice "Your sister didn't have a sex life…" it stated bluntly

Nicole had blushed bright red as Wynonna looked at her.

"…which is disappointing" the thing continued "after being a fucking tentacle monster for a couple hundred years I really didn't get much pleasure, sexual or otherwise and I was hoping for some sort of action as a human…preferably violence…" the hollow voice sounded disappointed "… some eye gouging, that would have been nice, strangulation… oh, gutting someone, i've missed that close up violence, there's only so much pleasure you can get from squeezing someone to death with a massive tentacle all the time…"

"Tentacle monster…?" Wynonna repeated. She looked like she was actually thinking, then she quickly rushed out of the door, letting it close behind her.

"Hmm, looks like she may have worked it out with that little clue, considering she's so stupid, I thought it might take her longer" it said laughing a little "hmm, just the two of us now, huh?"

As Nicole walked around in front of the thing inside Waverly it carried on "How about you untie me, hmm? I can have a look and see if you've healed that nicely positioned bruise of yours" It smiled, its fingers wriggling

"You obviously aren't as smart as Waverly if you think i'm going to untie you.." Nicole said as she studied it.

It shrugged "A girl's got to try"

Nicole knelt down in front of Waverly and looked at her face. It was Waverly's face that's for sure, but it definitely wasn't her. Nicole refused to believe that she wasn't still in there. She wouldn't give up that easily, she'd be in there fighting, Nicole was sure of it. She looked her in the eyes and the strange grey iris's looked back at her with amusement.

"Waverly?" She tried to see if there was any kind of reaction

It laughed slightly at her.

"Waverly?" She asked again raising her hand to touch Waverly's cheek

It snapped it's face out of Nicole's reach quickly "Don't fucking touch me you filthy halfbreed" it said with disgust

Nicole was shocked by the venom in its voice and moved her hand away quickly, but she also noticed fear in its eyes for a split second. What did something like that have to fear from her? She thought for a second while she watched it regain it composure. Then she thought of something. It had mentioned her being an angel in some way or another three times, literally calling her one when she walked in and just then, in a rather unsubtle insult, maybe it feared what she was, what she might be able to do to it.

While she was thinking it regained it's confidence and started talking again "I was so disappointed when they knocked me down and tied me up, I really wanted to enjoy this body, I bet you do too huh? well we can…"

Nicole interrupted "Y'know what's really going to disappoint you?" She asked in a low voice moving her face closer "When I kill you" she whispered looking it directly in the eyes

It looked slightly taken aback by the seriousness in Nicole's voice and eyes, but it tried to play it off "If you kill me, you'll kill her" the hollow voice threatened

Nicole looked it straight in the eye again "I thought you said she was already dead?" She said calmly smiling. It looked shocked and worried. It really wasn't as clever as Waverly.

That was all Nicole needed to make her mind up. Sure, she had never done this before, but she'd thought about it a lot over her lifetime.

"Waverly" Nicole said directly to it "I love you"

With that and without thinking too much about the consequences Nicole stood up, reached down and placed her hands on Waverly's face and neck just along the jawline. She concentrated harder than she had ever done before, she didn't know if this was even going to work, she had never tried to heal anyone else before and she didn't even know if 'healing' Waverly would actually get this thing out of her, but how could she not try?

It only took a second for Waverly to start to scream. It was a blood curdling scream that was a mix of Waverly and this monster inside her. Nicole's hands had started to glow the bright blue-white that she was used to seeing, but they were burning Waverly's face, Nicole could see Waverly's skin around her hands turning red, she didn't like to think she was hurting her, but surely this was a sign that it was having some sort of effect.

Nicole squeezed her eyes shut and gave it everything she had, she started to feel an immense pressure in her head, and her hands and arms started to feel like they were on fire. But she knew she had to continue, if what she was trying to do was effecting them both in such a strong way, it must be helping.

But when the screaming stopped suddenly and everything went silent, she feared for the worst. She opened her eyes, but found that she couldn't move the rest of her body. As panic started to set in Nicole saw something out of the corner of her eye; a blue light.

The room looked exactly the same as usual apart from a sort of haze, it wasn't thick, but it was enough to make the room look wrong, sort of blurry around the edges. The blue light that appeared started to grow and get closer to her and started to change slowly into… what was that? a person? with…wings? As the figure got closer Nicole's heart started pounding, She recognised the person.

"M-Mother?" She whispered

The figure hovered to the left of her and smiled brightly. Nicole's eyes started to fill with tears, she never thought she'd see her mother again, but there she was, bright white and blue, with the most magnificent wings Nicole had ever seen

"Mother"

"Little one" The angel said softly, smiling

Tears started to roll down Nicole's cheeks "Mother" She smiled through the tears. She wanted so much to touch her, hug her, but she couldn't move at all. Could she have actually died? was she in heaven? or on her way there?

"Look at you, all grown up. And you haven't changed a bit. Always so kind and strong and true" She smiled, her voice was soft and so soothing "I am proud of you, my love, spending your life protecting people, you were always so good at that" She smiled again "but tell me, sweetheart, are you sure this is what you want to do?" Her mother asked

Nicole was confused for a second. She looked down at a frozen screaming Waverly and figured that was what her mother meant "What, save her?"

Her mother nodded

"Yes, of course it is…"

Her mother smiled again "Even if it could kill you?"

Well at least she wasn't dead already. Nicole didn't even have to think about the answer though "I have to at least try. Ma, I love her"

Her mother smiled brightly again and reached out to touch Nicole's cheek, Nicole closed her eyes at the touch she had missed so much. "Ma…"

"Oh, my beautiful child" Her voice had to be the most glorious thing Nicole had ever heard "Concentrate again, my love, and I will help you free her"


	9. Chapter 9

"….NO! get me a doughnut!"

Was that Wynonna?

"Seriously, has he met me? A fruit bar? Really? like i've ever eaten a fruit bar in my life"

Yes, that was definitely Wynonna.

Waverly smiled at the sound of her sister protesting about food, but instantly regretted it when the lower part of her face started to hurt. She started to reach her hand up to her face to feel what was going on, but felt extremely weak and it felt like something was stuck to the back of one of her hands. She tried to open her eyes, but that seemed like a struggle too. When her unencumbered hand eventually reached her face she felt …. bandages?

"Hey, hey, baby girl" She heard Wynonna say and a hand touch her arm. She eventually managed to get her eyes open "How ya doing?" Wynonna asked

She blinked a couple of times to get her vision to clear, when it did she saw Wynonna standing next to her looking worried, she reached out and smoothed Waverly's hair.

Waverly looked around to see that she was in a hospital room. To her right there was a door and windows out into a corridor and to her left a curtain pulled half way across the room. At the end of her bed was Doc, standing with one arm in a sling and his other hand on his gun. Wynonna noticed Waverley frowning and waved her hand at Doc

"Knock it off will ya, there's nothing wrong with her" Wynonna said to him frustrated

"We have no proof of that, darlin' " he shrugged with a tilt of his head and concerned smile

"Look, her eyes are fine, she's fine" Wynonna said pointing to Waverly

She looked up at Wynonna who frowned at Doc, but smiled with a hint of worry at her.

"So, how are you feeling?" Wynonna asked again

"I…I feel…erm…" how did she feel? she laid there taking everything in, she could feel that her body ached, her neck and jaw most of all, she had a thumping headache and the back of her hand was killing her. She lifted the hand, which was also the one she thought had something stuck on it earlier, and saw an IV tube taped to the back of it. She winced at the sight of it. "What happened?" she said in a croaky voice

"Well…" Wynonna looked at Doc, then back at Waverly "We don't really know…which seems to be a running theme at the minute" she rolled her eyes

Waverly's mind was a blur, she couldn't think straight with all the aches and pains, but she had a bad feeling, she couldn't put her finger on it, but there was something.

She looked around the room again "Where - where's Nicole?" she asked

Wynonna looked at Doc again then back at Waverly with a sad look on her face "Waverly…" she said softly

Waverly started to worry "Where is she?" she asked sitting up in the bed. She semi regretted it as her head started pounding

Wynonna put her hand up to keep Waverly where she was "Hey, the doctors say you should rest.."

Waverly waved her hand away "What's happened? Where is she?" she asked more forcefully, really starting to panic.

She saw Doc look quickly to the curtain next to the bed and then at Wynonna.

Waverly's heart sank. She got out of the hospital bed as quickly as she could and on rather shaky legs moved to the curtain pulling it open. She wasn't ready for what she saw on the other side.

Nicole was there laying on the bed covered in wires and surrounded by machines. Well, she assumed it was Nicole because of the beautiful red hair, but she couldn't recognise her instantly because her face was covered in tubes coming out of her mouth and nose.

She tried to get closer to Nicole, but the machines were in the way, she moved around to the other side of the bed where she had a better view of what was happening. Nicole was laying flat on the bed, her red hair laying flatly on the pillows around her head. She looked like she was asleep. Except for the tubes in her nose running to one machine, she had a large tube in her mouth connected to a ventilator which seemed to be breathing for her. Waverly's eyes started to fill with tears and she covered her mouth with her hand as she looked further down Nicole's body trying to take in everything. She had a hospital gown just peaking out from under a blanket, Waverly could see the bruise Nicole had received when she was shot, but also on her chest and coming out from under the gown were wires that must have been monitoring her heart rate. Her arms where down by her sides over the blanket and covered from shoulder to fingertips with bandages.

Waverly hadn't noticed the sound before, but all the machines seemed to be beeping or making some sort of noise and it started to overwhelm her. She couldn't hold on any longer as tears streamed down her face.

'What happened to her?" She asked through the tears. The last time she remembered seeing her girlfriend was in her flat when she was recovering from being shot by Willa. Now suddenly she wakes up in the hospital with Nicole seemingly on life support in the bed next to her.

"Don't you remember?" Wynonna asked

Waverly shook her head

"What's the last thing you do remember?"

"Being… with the both of you at the Ghost River Gate…"

"You don't remember anything else? Shooting Doc? fighting me? being…possessed?" Wynonna made a weird face

"Possessed?….Wha….?" Waverly nearly laughed through her tears, but then it was as if it being said out loud opened a door in her mind just a little bit. She suddenly remembered leaping at Wynonna, being held down and screaming, then being in Dolls' office and…Nicole kneeling in front of her and saying…something.

Waverly looked Wynonna in the eye "Oh god" she started to cry again "Is it my fault? Is it my fault she's like this?" Waverly asked through sobs.

Wynonna rushed to her and enveloped her in a hug "Ssshhh! baby girl, it's okay.." she tried to comfort her sister, but could feel her shaking her head.

"Can you tell us what happened in Dolls' office?" Doc asked from behind Wynonna "How did the two o'you get hurt?"

Wynonna waved at Doc to stop, she didn't want Waverly getting more upset. "Hey come and sit down" Wynonna said moving Waverly to a seat in the corner of the room. It was a large padded hospital chair which her, Doc and Dolls had been taking turns in watching over Nicole and her from.

"I don't remember, I don't remember what happened, I just remember Nicole in front of me in the office.."

"That must have been when I left the room" Wynonna said kneeling in front of Waverly "I left the room to talk to Dolls and Doc about …. well, about you being possessed by a tentacle monster, the next thing there was a bright white, kinda blue light, pretty blinding actually, coming through all the windows of the office, then you… you were screaming, before we could get to the door there was an almighty flash and bang and the light disappeared, when we got there you were unconscious on your back still tied to the chair with your face burned and Nicole…." She looked up at Doc

"The officer was on the floor by the door," Doc continued "it looked like she'd been thrown clear across the room, Dolls said she had stopped breathing and started… CCP…D…?"

Waverly looked up at him "CPR?"

"Er yeah, I still don't know what that is, but Dolls did it until the ambulance arrived…"

"She wasn't breathing?" Waverly said distraught, on the verge of tears again

"The doctors think both of you must have been electrocuted in some way" Wynonna said "you must have been touching at the time, that's why her arms…"

Waverly couldn't concentrate on what her sister was saying, her mind raced with questions and possible memories that didn't seem right. She remembered the white blue light from Dolls' office and she knew exactly what it was. Nicole must have tried to heal her, that's the only reason for the light, to get whatever this possession thing was out of her. But Nicole had always said she wasn't able to heal other people. And surely healing someone wasn't the same as getting rid of some sort of possession? But if what Wynonna and Doc were saying was true and she had somehow been possessed then somehow Nicole had succeeded. But at what cost?

"…and all around the walls was this ring of black…goo…" Wynonna was saying

This sparked another memory in Waverly, a puddle of black shiny goo, at the Ghost River Gate and her kneeling in front of it. Maybe this really was her fault.

Waverly got up and walked back to Nicole, she put her hand gently on her arm and looked up and down it. She wanted to see what exactly had happened to Nicole's arms, she'd seen her heal herself before and all that did was drain her energy, which was obviously why she was unconscious, but what could have caused her to need bandages covering her right up and over her shoulders?

She had to try to work out what had happened, to figure out if these wounds had been caused by an electrical accident or by Nicole, but if she couldn't see Nicole's wounds she had to try to see her own. Without really thinking too much about it she started to pull at the bandages on her face and neck.

"What are you doing? you have to keep those on…" Wynonna protested getting up and rushing over to her sister

"No, I have to see…" Waverly said starting to pull them off and look for a mirror, luckily there was a small bathroom in the room. She opened the door and stood in front of the large mirror as she carefully peeled off the final layer of protection.

She winced when she slowly raised her chin and saw the damage. It looked like her face had been blistered or burned, the skin was red and raw and looked like it might be weeping. But as she looked she could see that the burns were loosely the shape of hands, she could clearly see the shape of thumbs coming away from the rest of the wound.

Waverly got a flash of memory. She saw Nicole in front of her kneeling down, looking her straight in the eye, looking worried and then determined. She then stood and placed her hands of Waverly's face. It slowly sunk in that Nicole had done this, that she had removed whatever it was that was inside her, but in doing so had risked her own life. She couldn't have known if it could even be done or what the consequences would be, but she had risked her life to save Waverly and it had nearly killed her.

"Nicole…" She whispered, then turned back to Nicole and walked back over to her again, she stood over her in awe. She couldn't believe it, she couldn't believe what Nicole had done. She leaned over and kissed her on the forehead. "What did you do?" she whispered softly, not as an accusation, more as a loving acknowledgement, the way her mother did when she would lift her onto the kitchen counter and fix a grazed knee.

"Waverly?…." Wynonna asked "What's going on? Do you remember something? Do you know what happened?"

Waverly lied and shook her head, not taking her eyes off of Nicole.

Wynonna regarded her suspiciously, but let it go for the time being "Come on, you need to get those bandages replaced…"


	10. Chapter 10

Waverly sat on the edge of her hospital bed as a nurse reapplied her bandages. As Purgatory was such a small town she knew the nurse, she had been in the same year of high school with Waverly.

"Try to keep these on, okay?" Debbie the nurse said

"Yeah, I will" Waverly said smiling absentmindedly as she looked over Debbie's shoulder to where Nicole was laying.

Debbie saw that she was distracted, so collected all her things and left.

"Thank you" Waverly said as she hopped off the bed and made her way over to Nicole. She stood next to her for a moment, then went to the padded hospital chair, pulled it next to the bed, perched on the edge and held Nicole's hand, or at least the hand shaped bandage.

She wasn't sure how long she'd been sitting there when Wynonna came rushing in.

"Okay" she said quickly "come on, the nurse said you can be discharged, so Doc's going to take you home, okay? me and Dolls have a _thing_ we have to do…. so…" she motioned to Waverly to come on and moved towards the door

"No, i'm..i'm staying here, with Nicole" Waverly said not moving

"Baby girl….."

"I won't sit at home while she's here…alone…"

Wynonna turned back toward Waverly seeing that she was holding Nicole's hand. She paused for a second and knew Waverly had no intention of leaving "Okay, fine… I don't have time to argue with you right now…. but when I do…" she pointed at Waverly and squinted her eyes at her "… just you wait" she threatened jokingly.

She rushed over to Waverly grabbed her head with both hands and kissed her forehead "Call me if you need anything" she said rushing off, when she got to the door she realised that Waverly still didn't have any of her things. She turned around again, moved back towards Waverly and threw some keys at her.

Waverly quickly caught them and looked quizzical

"Your jeep's out the front and your bag's in there" she then turned and actually left.

—

"Oh, hello Waverly" came a gruff voice

Waverly looked up to see Sheriff Nedley standing at the corner of Nicole's bed

"How are you?" He asked

"I'm fine, thank you sheriff" she said solemnly looking towards Nicole

"And, er, how's our deputy doing?" He asked moving closer to the bed and placing his hands on his belt

Waverly shook her head "No change"

"Well…" He said moving his hand as if he was going to touch Nicole's arm, but thought better of it and placed it back on his belt "…you let me know if anything does change"

Waverly nodded "I will" she smiled

The sheriff took a last look at Nicole then turned to leave "Oh, Miss Earp?" He turned back towards Waverly "has anyone been to feed her cat?"

"Oooohh crap" Waverly said softly, Nicole would kill her "No" she cringed

He nodded and looked a little disappointed "oh, okay… well, I'll err…."

"No, that's okay sheriff, i'll go" Waverly interrupted "We both know she doesn't like men anyway" she smiled

Nedley put a hand over his arm "she really doesn't" he said quietly obviously thinking about the last time he's tried to feed the cat "well, good luck" he smiled as he left

Waverly really didn't want to leave Nicole's side, but knew that if she didn't and anything happened to Thunderbolt Nicole would be so annoyed and Waverly wouldn't be able to forgive herself. So she she stood, leaned over Nicole and whispered "I wont be long okay?" then kissed her forehead and made her way to her jeep.

—

She opened the door to Nicole's flat and Thunderbolt was sitting neatly in the small hall section of the flat, staring right at her with what Waverly could only think was utter disappointment. But she seemed to get over it quickly and was quickly weaving around her legs meowing loudly

"I know, it's only me, i'm sorry" She said as she leaned down to stroke the cat "Okay, okay, i'm going to feed you, calm down" she smiled

She walked around into the kitchen, but realised she had no idea where the cat food would be. As she started opening and closing cupboards Thunderbolt sat in front of a bottom cupboard and meowed. Waverly glanced in her direction but carried on opening cupboards, Thunderbolt meowed again, and again Waverly turned around. Was the cat trying to tell her where the food was?

Waverly squinted her eyes at the cat "I don't know if you're clever or just weird" she said smiling and opening the cupboard, to her surprise it was full of cat food.

It didn't take long for her to fill the cats bowls with food and water, and she was practically pushed out of the way by the hungry feline as it rushed to the food.

"You're welcome" she said stroking Thunderbolts back as she ate "I'm just going to get some of Nicole's stuff….for when she wakes up" after all there was every possibility she could wake up tomorrow, right? and it was better to have some clothes ready, than have to leave Nicole's side once she was awake.

She stood there for a moment wondering whether or not she should tell the cat what had happened. Thunderbolt looked up for a moment as if it knew what she was thinking, but then went back to her food. Waverly stood and watched for a moment more then rolled her eyes at herself

"Okay…so…" she cleared her throat feeling self conscious for doing this, but knew she would feel guilty if she didn't "Nicole is in the hospital…" the cat looked up again as if waiting for more information "but she's going to be fine…okay?…." It must have been because the cat carried on eating

She shook her head at herself and walked into Nicole's bedroom, it wasn't the first time she'd been in there, she had to walk through it to get to the bathroom last time she was there, but it was the first time she'd been in the flat alone. She felt a little wrong being there, she wanted to have a look around, but also knew that she shouldn't without Nicole there.

She had no idea where anything was in the room, but figured Nicole would have a bag in her wardrobe, that was where most people kept them. When she opened it she couldn't help but smile at how neat it was in there. All of Nicole's police uniforms were at one end neatly in order with all her shirts together, all her trousers together and all the coats together. The rest of the wardrobe was filled with her everyday clothes, some of which Waverly recognise, but most of which she didn't. She saw Nicole in her uniform a lot. There were some nice things in there that she thought she'd like to see Nicole in at some point.

On the floor of the wardrobe at one end, next to all of Nicole's neatly lined up shoes and boots, she found what she was looking for. She pulled the bag out and placed it on the bed. It was a medium sized bag and it looked like Nicole must have had it for a while, it was a little worn at the edges and on the handle, when Waverly looked at the outside of it she knew why. It had a logo on the side of it that Waverly recognised as a police academy shield. Nicole must have kept it all this time, which didn't really surprise her, Nicole was very proud of her career and how well she'd done in the academy.

She started to fill the bag with a few things from the bathroom; toothbrush, hair brush, then she went to the chest of drawers. She wasn't actually sure what to take. If Nicole's arms were burned or wounded up to her shoulders would she be able to put a bra on? or a t-shirt? maybe she should take a shirt from the wardrobe? she couldn't make up her mind so decided to take at least one of each, she also threw in some track suit bottoms and converse shoes, as they would be comfortable.

When she was done she took the bag and threw it by the front door. In the kitchen Thunderbolt was sitting on the kitchen counter looking at her.

"Hey, you all done? huh?" She said standing in front of her and giving her a tickle under her chin. Thunderbolt purred contently and moved her head closer to Waverly, "You are welcome" she said stroking her more. The cat closed it's eyes and purred then rubbed her face carefully against the bandages on Waverley's neck and meowed. Waverly moved away, the cat hadn't hurt her, but she was worried she might press to hard and Waverly wasn't sure yet how much pressure was too much "Hey now kitty! careful" she said stroking the cats head

"Now.." She said as she walked into the kitchen again "What food does she have that might go off…" she opened the fridge and looked inside "..we don't know how long she'll be… away" she finished sadly, turning to smile at Thunderbolt, but the cat wasn't on the counter any more.

"Okaaayy…" Waverly shrugged and started going though the food in the fridge. It didn't take her long to get rid of any food she thought might end up crawling out of the fridge in a few days.

"Okay…Thunderbolt? where are you?" she asked walking out of the kitchen "Thunderbolt? I'm going now…." she said into the room looking around, but she couldn't see the weird feline anywhere "Thunderbolt?….Okay well, I or someone else will be by tomorrow okay? whoever it is, you be nice okay?…. okay" she gave another quick look around, but couldn't see her so gave up and went to the door and picked up Nicole's bag, which seemed heavier than she remembered, and left.

When she got to her jeep she put the bag in the footwell of the passenger side and began her cold journey back to the hospital.

It didn't take long to get there, but as she waited to cross the traffic into the hospital car park she saw something out of the corner of her eye moving in the footwell. She quickly glanced down and thought she saw Nicole's bag move. She figured she must have been mistaken and went back to trying to get into the car park.

It didn't take long for her to get across the traffic, this was Purgatory after all there wasn't much traffic, and find a free space, as she turned the engine off something caught her attention again. This time she definitely saw something and to her utter amazement she saw Thunderbolt's little head peaking out of the top of Nicole's bag.

"What the..?" She knew she should have done the bag up properly. "Thunderbolt!" she said annoyed, then opened the bag to reveal the cat all huddled up, happily looking at her. She huffed at the situation. What was she meant to do now? she couldn't leave the cat in the car, sure it had windows and the top was up, but it wasn't the newest of cars and Thunderbolt could easily wriggle through a gap or something. "I am not going all the way back to Nicole's" she stated at the cat, that would be another twenty minutes or so there and back and she already felt awful being away from Nicole for so long. So the only thing she could do was leave the cat in the bag and take the bag into the hospital with her.

"Okay, listen you" she said pointing at the cat, who sat there looking like it knew exactly what it was doing "If I take you in there, you have to stay in the bag. Got it?" she asked as if it was going to reply "No sneaking out. You can NOT be in there and if you're seen… they might stop me seeing Nicole, understand? and if I can't see Nicole I am holding you entirely responsible and i'm the one who's going to be feeding you, capeesh? So best behaviour" she leaned down and did the bag back up a little, but leaving some room for air, then she lifted the bag carefully and made her way up to Nicole's room trying her best not to attract attention.

She was quite surprised when she got to Nicole's room without anyone saying anything, maybe she was getting better at this secret agent thing.

She placed the bag down between the chair and Nicole's bed, then leaned over her and soothed her forehead "Hey, baby" she whispered and looked at the machines surrounding her girlfriend like she knew what she was looking at. She nearly jumped out of her skin though when she turned back to Nicole and saw Thunderbolt standing on the edge of the bed.

"What the…" she said a bit too loudly "What the hell are you doing?" she said angrily through gritted teeth, but the cat ignored her and gingerly started to walk across Nicole, sure she was being careful, but Waverly started to panic.

"If someone comes in here…." she said as she reached for Thunderbolt, but before she could pick her up she heard a voice.

"Everything okay in here?"

Waverly's attention diverted to the curtain dividing the room. It was Debbie the nurse on the other side

Waverly quickly turned back to get Thunderbolt, but the cat was gone. With no idea what was going on she put on her best fake smile just as Debbie moved the curtain and looked in "Yeaahhhh, everything's fine, Deb, thanks"

"Good" she said walking in a bit further and having a quick look over the bed at the machines. As she was about to leave she smiled and said "Oh, I've been moved to the children's ward starting tomorrow, so probably wont see you for a while, but we should catch up some time"

"Yeah, yeah, that would be great" Waverly fake smiled, still not knowing where that damn cat was or what it might be doing.

"Great! Well, if you need anything Bessie will be taking over and should be at the nurses station"

"Bessie? she still works here?" Waverly asked of the woman that seemed to have been working there forever

"Oh yeah, I don't think she'll ever leave" Debbie laughed as she left

When the coast was clear Waverly turned around franticly looking around for Thunderbolt, only to see a white flash jump back onto the bed. "Seriously?" she said watching in amazement as the cat again started stepping on Nicole and working it's way up to her face.

"Hey, hey! be careful.." she whispered

She reached for it as it stood on Nicole's chest and started sniffing the wires and tubes on Nicole

"Didn't I tell you to stay in the bag, huh?" She said putting Thunderbolt on the floor and opening the bag to put her back in. But when she turned to pick her up and put her in, she was gone again.

She stood up and there she was on the bed again, this time sniffing Nicole's bandaged arm. Waverly threw up her arms in exasperation and put them on her hips. The cat ignored her as she positioned herself at Nicole's shoulder and laid down so that she was resting just on her. She placed her head carefully on Nicole and closed her eyes.

The cat looked so peaceful, and sort of sad, laying with Nicole like that that Waverly couldn't bring herself to move her again. She decided to leave Thunderbolt there for the time being, but knew she couldn't stay there forever.

She sat back down next to Nicole and rested her head on the backrest. As she watched Nicole laying there with her cat on her shoulder, she thought it might be safe to close her eyes, maybe just have a short nap, after all she'd been through a lot of stuff in the last few days.

The rhythmic sounds of the ventilator and the soft beeping of the machines were starting to act like a lullaby and as her eyelids started closing the sound of Thunderbolt purring was enough for her to fall asleep.


	11. Chapter 11

"What the hell is that doing here?"

Waverly sat up quickly, she'd fallen asleep so easily in the chair next to Nicole. She hadn't been able to help it, what with the relaxing purring of Thunderbolt. It took her a second to orientate herself to where she was and what was happening.

"Waverly?" Wynonna questioned loudly and pointed

Waverly followed Wynonna's finger towards Thunderbolt, who surprisingly hadn't disappeared, only moved her head to look at Wynonna with what could have been confusion or exasperation, Waverly couldn't tell.

"Oh, she hitched a ride" Waverly explained "And then I couldn't keep her off the bed so…" she shrugged and stretched her arms out trying to wake up properly

"Well, grab it…him…her…It's time to go" Wynonna shook her head in slight confusion

"I'm not going…" Waverly started

"Yeah you are," she interrupted "it's late and you can't sleep here…" Wynonna watched Waverly as she looked sadly at Nicole and was about to say something, but Wynonna pursed her lips and raised her eyebrows at her sister to stop her.

"…I'll bring you back in the morning, I swear, but you have to sleep" she said softly and smiled

Waverly had to concede that her sister was right, however much she wanted to stay, she really did need to sleep and in a comfy bed too.

"Okay" Waverly said standing up reluctantly. As she did Thunderbolt watched her and must have known what was coming as she quickly stood and leaped off the bed disappearing under it.

Waverly leaned down to pick up her's and Nicole's bags and saw Thunderbolt hiding under the hospital bed obviously having no intention of leaving.

"I'm not playing this game now Thunder, get in the bag, we're going home…" The cat didn't move "Come on, please? I need food, you need food…"

"We all need food, cat, get in the damn bag" Wynonna added

"Please" Waverly added kindly

Thunderbolt looked at her for a second and then slowly walked to the bag and jumped in

"Thank you" Waverly said as she carefully pulled the zip half way and picked the bag up.

She leaned over Nicole "I'll see you tomorrow, baby" she whispered and kissed her before leaving.

—

"That wasn't the easiest bath…." Waverly said gesturing to the bandages on her neck as she dried her hair

"No, but you needed it"

"Oh thanks, sis" waverly scoffed

"I didn't mean it like that" Wynonna smiled and patted the bed next to her "come on, you should rest"

"I'm fine" she said "I'm not the one in intensive care…"

"Nicole will be fine, the doctors said it was a miracle she survived such a powerful electric shock, but she did, she's strong…" Wynonna watched Waverly who didn't make eye contact "They did think it was strange though, the wounds don't match a normal electrocution… there weren't any entry or exit wounds…"

Waverly brushed her hair as she tried to avoid Wynonna's gaze.

"Yours don't match either…" Wynonna probed, she knew something was going on with her sister and whatever happened in that office with Nicole, she didn't want to push too hard, but she knew that if she didn't get some sort of answer soon she would have to start pushing harder.

Waverly tied her hair back with some ribbon to keep it away from her neck, then shrugged at Wynonna and smiled sweetly. What could she say? _'well, that's because it was actually my half angel girlfriend risking her life to get some monster out of me' ._ She didn't think that would work somehow. Well, actually it might, but Nicole didn't want people knowing. She only really told her because she'd already work out that something was going on, and of course because she did kind of threaten her with a knife. But still it wasn't Waverly's secret to tell.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Wynonna asked "That thing is out of you, right?"

"Of course it is, and of course I am….i'm just…i'm worried about Nicole…" She smiled as she got on the bed.

Thunderbolt had been sitting on the windowsill of Waverly's bedroom since they went in there, but as Waverly got on the bed, she jumped down, then onto the bed by Waverly's legs and sat and watched them

"Tell me what happened, how did that…thing get into you?"

Waverly thought back, although it seemed like it all happened ages ago it was only yesterday morning. "You were talking with Doc and I…I could hear something, like whispering voices calling to me… I.. I followed the voices and there was a puddle of… black, shiny goo… and it called to me to touch it…"

"Oooh, never touch the goo, Waves come on" Wynonna teased

Waverly laughed at that, but then said seriously "I'm sorry"

"No need to be sorry, you didn't know what would happen"

Waverly shook her head "But I hurt you…" she said turning Wynonna's head towards her to see the scratches on her cheek "and Doc… and Nicole"

"Nicole?" Wynonna frowned

Waverly hadn't meant to say that, she'd been thinking out loud. She shook her head and frowned "I just…" she was too tired to think of a lie or excuse to cover "I didn't..I…I'm just tired" She said shaking her head. She moved to the top of the bed and moved the blankets down so she could get under them "I'm gonna…." she pointed to under the sheets.

Wynonna watched her for a moment as she got under the sheets then stood up "Okay, But we're going to talk about this" she said waiting for Waverly to get settled and then kissing her on the forehead. "You rest, i'll see you in the morning"

Waverly smiled "'night"

As Wynonna left Thunderbolt moved and laid across Waverly's legs facing the door.

Wynonna was trying to convince her to eat a proper breakfast as Waverly walked over to her desk next to the kitchen with a slice of toast in her mouth.

"I'm fine" She said as she held the toast, then took a large bite out of it "I just want to get to the hospital" she said chewing

"Baby girl, you can't spend all your time there, what if we need your help" Wynonna said from the kitchen

"That's why i'm taking my laptop" she smiled "if you need me you can just call or text and i'll do my thing from the hospital"

She finished her toast then grabbed her large bag and placed her laptop, note pad and some pens inside.

Wynonna got up and stood in front of her sister "You know we still need to talk…"

Waverly looked confused

"..about what's going on, about what happened in that office and what happened with you and Nicole" Wynonna clarified. She saw Waverly shake her head slightly and begin to look down. She put her hand on her shoulder "Look, I know y-you love her and want to protect her, but you don't have to go to the hospital-"

Waverly looked up quickly "I'm not leaving her there on her own" she interrupted then walked past Wynonna to get her coat. She put her bag down by the door to get her coat and turned towards the kitchen.

"Thunderbolt?" she shouted "Are you coming?"

She didn't have to wait long before a white flash of cat came darting out of the kitchen towards her. She stopped just in front of Waverly, looked up at her and then jumped into her bag.

"Well, if she's going, so am I" Wynonna said grabbing her own coat

As they exited the lift at the hospital Wynonna's phone rang

"It's Dolls.." Wynonna said as she stopped to answer it

Waverly motioned to her that she was going to carry on to Nicole's room and Wynonna nodded

As she walked around the corner and down the corridor she smiled and waved a little at Bessie, who was sitting behind the nurses desk as usual. But as she entered the room she was surprised to see there was a man standing at the foot of Nicole's bed with his hands behind his back just looking at her.

"Hello" Waverly said slightly suspiciously. She didn't recognise him, he wasn't dressed like a doctor, he didn't have a white coat on and there was no sign of any sort of identification.

He turned to look at her and smiled softly, but said nothing. She slowed as she got closer to him and started to feel a little strange. She suddenly felt really calm and relaxed and slightly like she was on her way to having drunk maybe one too many drinks. It was a nice feeling, but was strange and out of place.

"Are you…are you a doctor?" she managed to ask softly, overcome slightly by the feeling

But he didn't answer, he just kept on smiling kindly and started to walk slowly around her and out of the room.

When he'd left she started to feel normal again and quickly went to Nicole's side and looked at the machines around her to check she was alright. She didn't really know what to look for, but they all seemed fine, her heart rate seemed to be the same as yesterday and she was breathing. At least he hadn't done anything to her, but if that man wasn't a doctor then who was he and why was he there?

She quickly put her bag down, maybe a little harder than she should have considering it's contents, and rushed towards the door. As she got there she could see Bessie watching someone and smiling, but when Waverly reached the door and looked down the corridor there was no one there. She was sure he should have been there, he hadn't been walking fast and she hadn't been in the room that long, but he was gone.

"Where did that man go?" She asked Bessie

"What man, dear?" Bessie asked sweetly

"The one that just came out of Nicole's room"

"There has only been you in there today, dear"

Well, that was a lie.

Confused, Waverly quickly rushed to the corner that led to the lifts hoping he would be there. But the only person there was Wynonna, who was just getting off the phone.

"Did you see that man?" Waverly asked her quickly

Wynonna shrugged "What man?"

"People need to quit asking me that" Waverly snapped "There was a man. in a jumper. handsome. kind face. ring any bells?" she asked getting annoyed

"You're the only person i've seen" she said putting her phone away "Your man must have disappeared" Wynonna shrugged again.

Waverly paused. You can't just disappear. Can you? Well, this is Purgatory, maybe he did. But what was he doing at Nicole's bedside? Waverly thought for a second

"Shit" Waverly said and turned and ran back down the corridor and into Nicole's room "Shit. shit. shit"

"Hey, what is it?" said Wynonna as she rushed after her sister

Waverly quickly leaned over Nicole to see if she could see anything that might indicate if she still had it, she looked at her hands, but they were covered with so much bandaging she couldn't see anything. It could have been taken off of her when she was bought in.

Waverly rushed out of the room to the nurses station "Where are her things?" she asked Bessie

"Who's things, dear?"

Seriously? "Nicole's" Waverly answered tersely.

Bessie looked like she was thinking. slowly.

"Nicole's personal items, the things she had with her when she came in" Waverly explained a little more

"Oh, well, they're here.." she pointed down to something under the desk that Waverly couldn't see "But, i'm afraid if you aren't a family mem-"

She was cut off by Wynonna "Give her the damn stuff, Ratchet" She said angrily leaning against the desk

"There are policies, dear" Bessie stated

Wynonna may not know what was going on, but knew Waverly obviously had an important reason for wanting Nicole's things and she was going to back her sister up. She placed her hand on peacemaker "I don't care, hand them over"

Bessie saw her touch the gun and her eyes widened "Okay" she said leaning down and opening whatever was under the desk. She moaned as she sat back up, she was pretty old after all, and held out the small see-through bag that had Nicole's things in "But, i'd say it was too late…."

Waverly snatched the bag out of her hand and turned to leave, but then realised what Bessie had just said "What do you mean 'too late'? too late for what?" she asked still angry and anxious incase it wasn't in the bag

"Oh, er, I just mean…" She looked like she was thinking again "…her phone will have died by now" she said and smiled sweetly

Waverly watched her for a second, but knew she didn't have time for this. She turned and rushed back into Nicole's room and rummaged in the small bag as she went. As she got to the foot of the bed she let out a small sigh of relief as she pulled out what she was looking for.

"What is it?" Wynonna asked "What were you looking for?"

Waverly didn't answer, she just held up a green and silver ring

"A ring?" Wynonna made a confused face "Waverly…."

But her sister had walked around the side of Nicole's bed and was untying the ribbon from her hair. She then delicately passed it under Nicole's neck and under all of the different wires and tubes surrounding her, threaded the ring through it and tied the ends together. She then placed the ring carefully on Nicole's chest.

"It… It was her mothers" Waverly said in explanation, it wasn't a lie but, she couldn't tell her it was to protect her and hide her from angels that might be looking for her, although it had been at least two days that Nicole had been without it and what with the mysterious disappearing man, it might very well be too late.

Wait, that's what Bessie had said. And Waverly had been sure the nurse had been looking at someone when she left the room. How would the nurse have known whether it was too late or not if she didn't have something to do with this?

Waverly looked up and went to leave the room to confront the nurse, but was stopped by Wynonna grabbing her arm.

"Alright, baby girl, i've been patient enough with this" Wynonna said standing square between Waverly and the door "What is going on here and what happened to you both in that damned office?"

Thunderbolt poked her head out of Waverly's bag at the sound of raised voices and watched Waverly back away from Wynonna and step around the side of Nicole's bed. The cat then jumped out of the bag and onto the bed where Waverly was resting her hand as she looked at her girlfriend laying in the bed. Thunderbolt slowly rubbed her face, neck and body against Waverly's arm as she started to walk up the bed. When Waverly looked down at the cat she looked back at her, meowed and walked over Nicole's legs and laid on Nicole's other shoulder the same way she did yesterday.

Her contented purring distracted Waverly from the question for a moment, but the look Thunderbolt had given her and the cats somehow reassuring touch made her think that she had to tell Wynonna the truth, well some of the truth anyway.

She turned to her sister and tried to gauge how she might react, but she had asked and she should know, she could help after all.

"She saved my life" Waverly said simply "she got that thing out of me, that's what happened in the office, I don't remember everything, but I know she did it"

Wynonna shook her head "Waverly, how could Nicole…"

"She did this." Waverly said raising her chin and gesturing towards her neck "it's why her hands and arms are…." Waverly looked at Nicole sadly

"How?"

Waverly shook her head "I can't tell you…"

"Waverly…" Wynonna tried to plead

"I can't… people can't know, Wynonna please" she shook her head and took hold of Wynonna's arm "there are people after her, the ring…it should hide her from them, but it might be too late…"

"Too late?"

"She hasn't had it on for two days and the man I saw, I think he might have been one of them"

"One of who?" Wynonna asked, but Waverly couldn't say and just shook her head apologetically

"I can't say" Waverly answered "When she's awake you can ask her, but I can't tell you, I don't think she'd want me too…"

"Okay…" Wynonna said thinking "Doc said there is some sort of big mouthed eyeless monster in the woods, so i'll go kill that and then i'll come back and we'll sort this all out, okay?" She said looking down at her sister before hugging her

Waverly nodded

"Good, i'll keep an eye out for a kind looking guy and speak to Dolls about it okay? and if I need you or you need me, call" Wynonna said as she quickly left the room

Once Wynonna had left Waverly turned to Nicole and Thunderbolt "Well, she took that better than I thought she would" she smiled as the cat looked at her then carried on purring.

Waverly leaned over Nicole and stroked Thunderbolt, she then grabbed her bag and took out her laptop, setting it up on the little table that was normally used for patients in bed. She figured she might as well use her time wisely and decided to do some research into anything that might help figure out who the disappearing man could be and what he might want.


	12. Chapter 12

A few hours later Wynonna, arrived back at the hospital to check on Waverly and Nicole. They both stood at the end of Nicole's bed discussing the monster in the woods, when nurse Bessie came in and stood next to Nicole.

Waverly quickly turned towards her "What are you doing?" she said panicked

"Her bandages need changing, dear"

Waverly shook her head "No, get away from her…" she said moving towards her

"Waverly, it's alright, she a nurse -"

"No she's not" Waverly said and turned towards Wynonna quickly reached for peacemaker and pointed it at Bessie, the nurse's eyes widened and she took a step away from Nicole.

"You know what this is?" Waverly asked menacingly

"WAVERLY!" Wynonna had no idea what was going on, but her sister had just pulled a gun on an elderly nurse

"I do" said the nurse calmly

"Then you know what it can do. Step away from her" Waverly threatened

"But you aren't the heir, dear" Bessie smiled apologetically

Wynonna still didn't know what was going on, but as always was on Waverly's side and if this nurse knew about peacemaker and what it could do in the hands of the Earp heir, she was not a regular nurse. She stood beside Waverly and took peacemaker out of her hand without taking it off of the nurse "No she's not, but I am, now do as she says"

The barrel of the gun started to glow as it normally did, but this time it didn't glow orange and red, but light blue. They all looked at it, Wynonna and Waverly with surprise and Bessie with what looked like fear.

"Waverly?" Wynonna questioned, she needed an explanation

"She's not a normal nurse" Waverly accused

"Oh, I am, I am qualified to treat-"

"Well then, you're not a normal person" Waverly interrupted from where she stood next to Wynonna

Bessie tilted her head to the side "One might say i'm not a person at all" she mused quietly

"Get away from her" Waverly stated yet again, still fearing what she might do to her girlfriend

Bessie sighed and stepped forward towards them slightly "Dear, I will not harm the officer…"

"How do I know that?" she was getting anxious "How do I know you aren't like that man…" Waverly pointed to the corridor "from earlier…"

"I'm not" Bessie stated "My calling is to help, whether it be those who are suffering or those who need comfort, I help ease their pain, and that may mean by changing bandages or helping them pass on to what comes after, but I do not hurt and I do not hunt"

"Hunt?" Waverly repeated worried

Bessie sighed again, she didn't like having to explain this to mortals even if she didn't do it often, but she still spoke softly "The gentleman who was here, if he was going to hurt Ms. Haught he would have done so, it is obviously not what he was here to do"

"Then why was he here?" Waverly asked

Bessie shrugged "I'm afraid I don't know, we rarely interfere with others work" She smiled "Now would you mind putting that down…" She pointed at peacemaker "This is my work and I do have other people to tend to today and these bandages wont change themselves" she smiled again

Waverly and Wynonna both stood for a moment. Wynonna looked at her sister and when she nodded her approval, she lowered peacemaker.

"Just so you know, nursie, if you hurt Nicole, I wont hesitate sending you back to hell" Wynonna threatened as Bessie leaned over Nicole and started carefully undoing the bandages around her closest arm

She looked up at Wynonna and smiled "Wrong way, dear"

Wynonna blinked her confusion, then thought she understood what Bessie had meant. She quickly turned to Waverly and mouthed "Heaven?"

Waverly nodded

Both of the Earp girls stood at the end of Nicole's bed and watched as the nurse carefully undid the bandages on one arm, reapplied fresh ones and then did the same to Nicole's other arm.

Waverly winced and took hold of Wynonna's hand when she saw Nicole's skin underneath the protection. Her hands looked badly burnt and blistered and extremely painful. But the further up her arm Waverly looked the less burned they seemed to be. But the wounds didn't seem like a normal burn though, they appeared to be lines of some sort, not the kind of burn you might see from a fire. But they were still burnt and looked immensely painful and worse than she had imagined. As she held Wynonna's hand her eyes started to fill with tear. The thought that Nicole's arms were so badly hurt because of her upset her more than she thought it could have.

When Bessie had finished her work she turned to them both "Are we done here, girls?"

Waverly nodded while looking at Nicole, the shock of seeing just how badly she was hurt was distracting her from anything else, even the fact that the nurse seemed to in fact be some sort of angel

"For now" Wynonna said staring at the nurse as she left.

When she had gone Wynonna turned to Waverly "Okay, what the hell was that?" She asked

Waverly walked down the side of Nicole's bed and stroked her forehead and cheek, then kissed it. She'd thought the wounds on her own neck were bad, but they were nothing compared to Nicole's

"Baby girl?…"

"I'm not sure" Waverly said distracted by Nicole still. As she said it Thunderbolt jumped back onto the bed, after hiding from the nurse, and stared at Waverly

"What did she mean about heaven…?"

Waverly turned her attention from Nicole back to her sister "I did some research this afternoon and it looks like she's been working here or at least in Purgatory since at least 1856…"

"1856?" Wynonna turned towards the door with surprise "She doesn't look a day over… sixty?"

Waverly smiled "It's also possible she is some sort of angel"

"Angel?" Wynonna said surprised and confused

Waverly nodded

Wynonna thought for a bit "So, what does that mean? Do I have to…?" She twirled peacemaker around her finger a bit

"I don't know" Waverly sighed and leaned against the bed

"I don't know if I want to shoot an angel…. how many years bad luck do you think that might be?" she mused

Waverly just looked at her sister and started to worry. If Wynonna's first thought was still that she had to shoot someone even though they were an angel, then what might happen when she found out about Nicole? She might have to try to avoid this whole situation until she could speak to Nicole about it.

"I think we should just keep an eye on the nurse, I don't trust her completely but she could have done anything to Nicole by now and she hasn't… but that other guy…"

"Why would an angel want to hurt Nicole anyway?" Wynonna asked "Why would an angel hurt anyone?"

Waverly just shrugged and sighed "I'm too tired for all this, I can't think" she said sitting next to Nicole's bed. She hadn't slept well since the whole possession thing and the stress of the last few days was really starting to take it's toll on her.

"Why don't you go back to the homestead and i'll stay with Nicole" Wynonna said standing next to Waverly and putting her hand on her shoulder

It sounded nice to Waverly, but she still couldn't bring herself to leave Nicole's side, she still felt responsible for her being in this situation "Thanks, but i'll stay…anyway Dolls and Doc might need you for something" Waverly smiled

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, i'll be fine, i'll be home later"

Wynonna moved to the end of the bed "Okay, call me if you need anything…" She pointed at Waverly for emphasis "I mean it …also are you sure that cat should be doing that…" she wiggled her finger at Thunderbolt, who was again laying on Nicole's arm purring "…seems unhygienic" she said making a grossed out face

Waverly looked at the cat "Well, actually…" she started in her best knowledgable voice "it is said that a cats purr can help with healing, as sounds that are the same frequency as a cats purr are proven to be medically therapeutic-"

"Yeah yeah, alright wiki Earp" Wynonna interrupted rolling her eyes "Geez…" She then turned and left shaking her head.

—

She's pretty sure she'd never been this scared in her life, not when she knew she was possessed by some sort of demon, not when revenants had tied a rope around her neck and stood her on a stool at the entrance to the homestead and not even when she rushed into Nedley's office and kissed Nicole for the first time.

But now no matter how hard she tried she couldn't see anything in the pitch black that surrounded her. and she couldn't remember how long she'd been here either, but it felt like days.

She slowly walked forward in the dark, testing the ground with her toes before she placed her foot down. The ground felt like rocks and gravel under her bare feet, but no matter how hard she tried she couldn't see it. Whenever she put her hands out in front or to the side there was nothing there. She didn't even know where she was going, there was no horizon to aim for, no sun, no moon, no stars, she'd put her hand in front of her face and couldn't even see the outline. How long she'd been walking she didn't know, but she thought she'd be better off moving than staying in one spot.

After what seemed like hours of darkness and silence, she suddenly heard something to her right, some sort of scurrying. She quickly turned towards the sound

"Hello?"

There was no reply.

But then there was more noise to her left. Again she span towards the sound, which sounded closer than the last.

She heard another sound, this time from behind her, she turned and began to panic, whatever these sounds were they were surrounding her.

Then out of the corner of her eye something caught her attention. As soon as she saw what it was she wished she hadn't.

In front of her were two orange glowing lights about two foot off the ground. They began to move towards her and as she started to back away from them they appeared to blink. As soon as she saw that she knew they were eyes, but the eyes of what she didn't know.

She started to move away from the advancing eyes quickly and as she did more started to appear in front of her and around the one that was already there, she then felt something brushed against the back of her legs. In a panic she tried to turn away from them and fell backwards onto the ground.

But the eyes kept advancing and there were more noises around her

"Oh, god…" she pushed herself away along the ground, even though she could hear noises behind her.

Actually, wait, was that a voice?

"Help" she shouted into the blackness

"Please, help"

"…. Earp?" said a voice quietly

"HELP" she screamed

"Ms Earp?"

She woke with a start to find Bessie the nurse kneeling in front of her. It took her a couple of seconds to catch her breath and remember where she was.

Something caught her attention out of the corner of her eye. Was it a white glow of some sort? whatever it was was gone now, but Bessie's hand remained on hers.

She looked back at Bessie "What.. what are you doing?" she said still waking up and confused

"You were having a nightmare, dear" She smiled "I was just trying to help…to wake you…"

Waverly quickly pulled her hand out from under Bessie's and gave her an unsure look. Bessie looked upset and pushed herself up to stand again. She looked at Nicole then back down at Waverly and sighed

"No matter what you may think, Ms Earp, I do not mean you or the officer any harm"

Waverly looked at her still trying to decide if she should trust this woman or not, but before she could say anything the nurse stepped back and sighed

"I'm afraid visiting hours are over Ms Earp, you will have to come back in the morning" She started to leave and then turned around again "I can change your dressings tomorrow as well if you'd like" she didn't wait for a reply before she left the room

—

As the days passed Waverly had started getting into a routine. She always arrived as visiting hours started at nine on the dot, she greeted Nicole and checked she was okay, then set herself up next to her bed. Every day Thunderbolt would tag along, she didn't always jump on Nicole's bed though, sometimes she sat in Waverly's lap and slept or purred while watching what she was doing. Not that Waverly minded, they'd become friends since all of this began, of course it could just be that Waverly was the one feeding her. But the cat would always know when a member of staff was coming and would disappear under the bed or chair until they had left.

With every passing day Waverly got more and more trusting of nurse Bessie, she hadn't given Waverly any reason not trust her really. She had changed both her and Nicole bandages a number of times and had always taken great care in doing so. She had explained to Waverly how to dress a wound properly and had actually let her help change some of Nicole's, she'd appreciated that, it helped her feel like she was useful and that she was helping Nicole in some way.

She was becoming quite used to the routine and in some ways looked forward to it, so when her jeep had refused to start on day six, she felt out of salts.

She banged the steering wheel with both hands "Seriously" She shouted at it

Thunderbolt popped her head out of Waverly's bag and looked up at her

"Don't look at me like that…. okay, sorry, I didn't mean to shout" She sat back and tried to calm herself down then tried the engine again.

Nothing

"Bollocks" she said whacking the wheel again.

She quickly grabbed her bag and went back into the house "Wynonna?" she shouted "Wynonna you have to take me to the hospital"

"Why? What's happened?" Wynonna said rushing out of the kitchen with a spoon half covered in what looked like yoghurt and looking worried

"The stupid jeep wont start"

Wynonna was confused for a second and then realised what Waverly meant "Baby girl, don't do that to me! I thought you meant you were hurt!"

"What? No! but I don't want to be late, it's nearly nine already"

Wynonna rolled her eyes "Dude, she's not gonna notice if you're late"

"Wynonna!" Waverly was slightly hurt by that

"Okay, sorry" Wynonna said putting her hands up as she made her way to the stairs "Give me a minute and i'll get dressed" she said putting the spoon in her mouth

Twenty minutes later and Waverly was standing at the door fidgeting with annoyance and anxiety "WYNONNA!" she shouted up the stairs

"I'm coming, i'm coming" Wynonna said slowly walking down the stairs putting her jacket on

"Finally"

"Hey missy, I don't have to take you, you know, I could just take Dolls' truck out for a ride and miss the hospital entirely" she said lifting an eyebrow at Waverly, who just looked like a lost puppy back at her "okay, okay, come on"

When they eventually arrived at the hospital at half past nine Wynonna decided she would come and see Nicole as well.

As they walked down the corridor to Nicole's room and passed the nurses station, Bessie looked up from her work and noticed the Earp sisters walk past.

"Oh, running a little late today, Miss Earp?" She asked smiling

Wynonna carried on walking and just smiled and vaguely laughed, but Waverly slowed and turned to the nurse "I know, my stupid Jeep wouldn't start" She rolled her eyes and leaned against the nurses desk "Had to wait for old slow coach here to give me a lift" She said jerking her thumb in Wynonna direction, even though she was already inside Nicole's room.

It looked as though Bessie was going to say something more, but was interrupted by another nurse rushing up to her. Waverly could tell it was important so she smiled and indicated that she would leave them to it, then she made her way to Nicole.

As she reached the door to the room fear stopped her in her tracks and her heart started to race with panic.

Standing at the end of Nicole's bed was Wynonna, her arm outstretched with peacemaker drawn and pointed at someone hidden behind the curtain that separated the room. From where she stood in the doorway Waverly couldn't see who it was, but she feared the worst.


	13. Chapter 13

_*rewind 30 seconds*_

"Oh, running a little late today, Miss Earp?" The nurse asked from behind her desk.

Wynonna still didn't trust her and had no intention of interacting with the nurse unless absolutely necessary, so she just smiled and fake laughed as she kept walking. She was surprised that Waverly stopped to chat considering the hurry she'd been in earlier, but the thought didn't slow her down as she made her way into Nicole's room.

"Hey Haught-mess, still snoozing?" She asked smiling and laughing at her own funniness as she walked up to the end of Nicole's bed

She turned instinctively to look at Nicole and found a man standing at the side of the bed with his hand on Nicole's arm. She hadn't noticed him when she'd walked in as the curtain that divided the room was pulled.

Her smile dropped and she quickly reached down to her boot and pulled out peacemaker pointing it at the interloper.

"Who the fuck are you?" She asked angrily

The man looked at her suspiciously "Well, you don't seem right…." he said quizzically looking her up and down and seemingly unfazed by the gun

As Wynonna tilted her head and was about to ask him what the hell that meant, a scared and worried Waverly came running in behind her.

"Nicole?" she whispered

She stopped for a moment behind her sister to see who she was aiming peacemaker at. But she didn't recognise the man, he certainly wasn't the smily angel, or whoever he was, from before who had disappeared. This man was older, his hair was mostly grey and was on it's way to being longer than Doc's and he looked like he hadn't shaved or slept in a couple of days, although he was still a good looking man.

But either way he was a stranger who was in Nicole's room, next to her bed with his hands on her. After stopping behind Wynonna for a moment, Waverly quickly moved along the bed to check on Nicole. She leaned over the bed to look at her and quickly check all the machines. When she was satisfied her girlfriend was as well as she could be, she stroked her hair and turned her attention back to the new man, who she realised was watching her.

He smiled slightly at her as she moved back towards Wynonna

"Now, you seem more like it" he smiled at Waverly

"Who are you?" Waverly asked softly not sure if she wanted an answer or not

He smiled at her again, seemingly ignoring Wynonna and the gun she still had pointed at him. "My name's Samuel and Nicole is my daughter" he said looking down at her

At hearing that, and without the sisters noticing, Thunderbolt stuck her head out of the bag Waverly was still carrying.

"You have anything to prove that?" Wynonna asked still pointing peacemaker at him.

He chuckled and started to reach into his pocket, but as he did and before anyone could figure out what was going on, Thunderbolt jumped out of Waverly's bag, onto the bed and jumped straight onto the man's chest. It soon became clear that it wasn't an attack by the feline, or at least not a violent attack, as the cat started meowing loudly, licking his face and rubbing her face all over the man's face and neck.

Waverly and Wynonna looked at each other in surprise, they had never seen the cat so animated before.

"I didn't think she liked men" Wynonna whispered to her sister. Waverly just shrugged in confusion

While he was being greeted by the cat, the man still managed to pull out his drivers licence and throw it on the bed in front of Wynonna. She picked it up and showed it to Waverly. It did indeed indicate that he was Samuel Haught. The sisters looked at each other and Wynonna put peacemaker back in her boot.

"Alright, alright, Teetoo, come on now…" he said softly to the cat trying to get her to stop, but she seemed to have no intention of doing so.

"I've never seen her like that before" Waverly smiled

He looked at her "Well, we haven't seen each other in quite a while" he smiled. He managed to get hold of the cat and placed her on the bed in front of him. She didn't jump back up at him, but she did continue to rub against him and he was happy to stroke her while she did.

"You must be Waverly" he said to the youngest Earp across the bed from him

"Yes, yes I am, i'm Nicole's…." she wasn't sure if she should say girlfriend, she didn't really know what Nicole's relationship with her dad was like.

"Girlfriend" He finished for her smiling

"Yes, sir….h-how did you know?"

He looked at her a little surprised "Well, the first thing you did when you came in, while your sister was pointing a gun at me,…" he smiled at Wynonna "…was to check that Nicole was safe and sound, also I do communicate with my daughter and she does talk about you a lot…" He laughed "…so I was pretty sure you'd be here"

"Er, well, Mr Haught…" Waverly said as she made her way around the bed to greet him "…It's a pleasure to actually meet you" she smiled sweetly extending her hand for him to shake

"Hey kid, come on" he said smiling and moving past her hand to envelop her in a hug. When he pulled away he said "and you can just call me Sam, no need for this Sir or Mr Haught nonsense" he squeezed her shoulders and smiled down at her. Waverly could see where Nicole got her charm

"Okay, sorry" she smiled "This is my sister Wynonna.." Waverly said gesturing towards her

"Yeah" he smiled "I figured"

Wynonna made no effort to greet him except for a small smile and a semi grunt hello

"I didn't know you were coming" Waverly explained "I..I didn't even know you had been contacted…I mean I would have if i'd know your number…"

"That's okay, the sheriff called me, i'm Nicole's next of kin" He smiled

"Took your time getting here didn't you?" Wynonna said grumpily with her arms crossed. Waverly turned and gave her an evil eye

Sam looked at Wynonna as if trying to figure out how to take that and what sort of answer to give "Well, i'm here now" he smiled "And it seems she's been well looked after…"

"Of course she has…." Waverly started, but was cut off by Wynonna's phone ringing

"Hey Doll's, What's up?" Wynonna said walking away from Waverly and Nicole's dad.

Waverly smiled apologetically at Sam

Wynonna walked back to them "There has been some sort of weird disturbance at a housing development in town so we're gonna go check it out, Will you be okay?" She asked Waverly pointing her eyes at Sam to indicate what she meant

Waverly glanced at him too "I'll be fine, we'll be fine" She smiled "call me if you need anything" she said as Wynonna left the room

After a moment of silence Sam spoke "Would you like a coffee or something Waverly? I saw a machine down the corridor"

"That would be nice, thank you" She answered politely

He smiled and nodded at her then left the room. As he did he noticed the older nurse at her station stop and stand motionless staring at him. He looked at her, but carried on down the corridor away from her. When he got to the coffee machine he stopped and looked at all the options, while he was waiting for the coffee's he turned and saw another nurse, this time younger and male, standing motionless staring at him. He turned back towards the nurses station to see the older nurse still watching. When he had collected both drinks he walked back to his daughters room, nodding and smiling at the older nurse as he entered the room.

As he handed Waverly her coffee he looked at the windowsill behind them which was full of bunches of flowers, at least one bear that he could see and some cards that had obviously been sent to Nicole.

"That is a lot of flowers" he smiled

Waverly turned to look at them "It is, a lot of people have brought them in or sent them, she is highly regarded by the community so…" she smiled

He smiled "That's nice to hear" he said sitting down next to her and taking a sip of his coffee. After a moment he said "So, the doctor tells me that the two of you were in some sort of electrical accident…."

Waverly had sort of forgotten all about that, what with knowing pretty much what had _actually_ happened and it had been a pretty busy week. It took her a second to remember the lie "oh, yes" she smiled "that's what they tell me"

"That's what they tell you?" He repeated confused

Waverly had to think on her toes, electrocutions weren't known to wipe your memory of the event "Yes…well…erm…"

Samuel put his hand up "Okay, hang on, let's just…." He turned to face Waverly properly "Let's cut to the chase, has Nicole told you?"

Waverly smiled nervously "Told me?"

"About herself… and her mother?"

Now how should she answer that? did he mean what she thought he meant? she didn't really know what either answer would generate

"Yes, sir" she said truthfully and a little nervously "That she was…." she pointed upwards to indicate heaven

He nodded "Good…so tell me what happened to my daughter, what really happened" he smiled "and stop calling me sir" he winked

"Sorry" she apologised again, what could she say, she was a little intimidated by Nicole's dad, not because he was scary, in fact he seemed lovely and kind and she could see where Nicole got a lot of herself from, but because she was meeting Nicole's father for the first time, essentially without Nicole being there. She wanted to make a good impression

She took a big swig of her coffee "It's..erm…it's my fault"

"Your fault?" he said raising his eyebrows in surprise

"Yes…I…" she laughed nervously, this was going to sound ridiculous "I was…sort of…possessed by some sort of tentacle monster and she used her… erm…powers to save me" she smiled nervously

"Her powers?" he laughed

"H-her…abilities?…." Waverly tried to correct

He laughed again

"I didn't think she could do that….." he mused once he's stopped laughing

"No, neither did she…I think that's why she's…why we are in this situation" Waverly said turning to look at her girlfriend still laying unconscious in hospital with her arms bandaged up to the shoulder and having machines breathe for her.

He turned to look at Waverly again and reached up and slightly moved her hair away from her neck "Is that what this is?" he asked looking at the still red marks on Waverly's neck

Waverly nodded "She risked her life to save me"

He smiled kindly at Waverly "That sound about right for her doesn't it?" he smiled

"Yeah" Waverly smiled back

There was silence for a while whilst they both drank some more coffee. Samuel sat back on his chair

"So…possessed huh?"

Waverly turned towards him and smiled apologetically "Yeah"

"Nicole says that there are a lot of strange things happening in this town, do you deal with a lot of stuff like that?"

"Unfortunately yes, it comes with the Earp name, i'm afraid"

He nodded like he understood, but she wasn't sure that he did, maybe Nicole had told him more about her and Wynonna and what they did in Purgatory than he was letting on.

"So, in your professional opinion, what's your take on that nurse outside?" he asked calmly

"Bessie?"

He nodded and drank

"Well, she has taken good care of Nicole and me….but I had my suspicions about her, she was moved down here from another department just after me and Nicole were brought in here…I don't know, something seemed off, I did some research and I believe she's a angel, well she basically said as much…"

"She did?" He said surprised

Waverly nodded "We, well, I confronted her about it a little, so…." She smiled again "My research showed that she's been here in Purgatory or the surrounding area for at least 160 years, so if she wasn't an angel she was something more sinister and if she was something more sinister and she around Nicole…"

"Hmmm" he agreed "well you're right, she is an angel…"

Waverly turned to him in surprise "How do you know? for sure I mean"

"Years of practice" he laughed, he laughed like Nicole, Waverly thought "You can feel it, or at least I can, perhaps you aren't used to it yet" he smiled "There are quite few around here, but then this is a hospital so that should be expected"

"What do you mean feel it?"

"It's hard to explain I suppose, but it's as if you're drunk, you get a little buzz and you feel calm, relaxed, contented, a little off someplace else, like nothing else matters, all at the same time…" he seemed to be thinking about something "…I haven't felt it for quite a while, luckily, but here, in this hospital it's everywhere…and of course with Nicole, I can still feel it in her… although it was never as strong as in her mother, obviously, I suppose" he smiled "Have you never noticed that? when you are around Nicole? or miss it when you aren't with her?" he asked softly

"I…I just thought that was…"

"Love?"

Waverly blushed and nodded

He smiled at her "Yeah it is as well, but it's a little different with them, angels that is, i'm sure there's a reason it feels like it does, maybe to put you at ease…anyway, as you spend more time with Nicole you'll sort of start to get used to it…hooked on it… when you get that feeling for no reason, or when she's not about, it's normally an angel, but the majority of people just don't feel it…"

Waverly found this all fascinating, if not a little worrying "You know a lot about all this" she said

"I was with Nicole's mother for 15 years before…." his happy demeanour faltered for a moment "…I picked up a few things" he smiled

"Nicole said that when she was younger, you were…hunted…"

"Hunted?"

"Not her exact words but…"

"But, you could say that yes…We did our best, but I think it affected her a lot as a child, well it affected both of us, but moving around so much, having your mother leave like that…"

Waverly nodded, she understood that feeling all too well and she'd been younger than Nicole was when her mother left.

"…It always surprised me that she grew up to be so patient and kind, she definitely got that from her mother" he smiled and laughed a little "I think that's why she joined the police, she always wanted to help people and enjoyed doing it…"

"And she's good at it" Waverly nodded "She's very proud of her job"

"She is" he nodded "…her mother would have been very proud of her choice too"

"Sir, erm, Sam…there was a man in here… a couple of days after Nicole was brought in…" Waverly had to figure out how to explain this "…I found him standing at the end of her bed, I knew he wasn't a doctor or someone from the hospital and as I got closer to him…I felt what you just explained…it made be feel…wrong, like maybe I was going to faint from it…"

Sam thought for a moment "Really? it was that strong?"

Waverly nodded "It was….and Nicole hadn't had her ring on for a day or so…."

He sighed "Then he was probably one of the Powers…the group of angels… Isabel told me about all of the different kinds of angels, you'd be surprised at just how many there are" he smiled "The Powers keep things in order, apparently, so they were the ones who would find those who strayed…I always liked calling them nimrods myself just because it works on many levels" he laughed at what he saw as a funny statement. Waverly hadn't caught on though "Nimrods are hunters…" he explained and Waverly nodded "…but I always liked it as an insult too" he smiled again and Waverly laughed getting what he was talking about "HEY, YOU, NIMROD!" he pretend shouted and laughed "Me and Nicole would always shout that at basketball games when someone fluffed a pass…" he looked at his daughter as he remembered all the times they spent at basketball games together when she was a teenager.

"He…the man…well, the nimrod" Waverly said smiling, she sort of wanted to join in calling him that "He didn't _do_ anything…he just left when I spoke to him…Well I mean he did disappear when he left the room, I went after him and he was just gone…"

"You went after him? huh! I do like you" he smiled "Yeah they do like disappearing…I know it doesn't help with worry, but there really isn't anything you can do with them, you can't attack them because you're too overcome by that feeling, you can't find them once they've disappeared, they aren't like Bessie or the others here at the hospital, their jobs are to stay on earth in human form and… help, but nimrods have their own rules and missions…" He explained

"What if he comes back?"

"I have to say I have never known one to appear and then…. not do anything…the only ones i've known were chasing Isabel and according to Nicole they took her and left and that was that" he shrugged "to be honest I don't know"

They both sat in silence for a while finishing their drinks and thinking about different things. Sam tried not to but ended up thinking about his beautiful wife and all of the nights that they had to rush to pack their things and their daughter up and escape from where ever they were. Waverley was contemplating what she could do about the nimrod, if Sam didn't know how to stop him what on earth was she going to do?

"So…Isabel is Nicole's mum?" Waverly asked softly, diverting the conversation to hopefully something a little nicer

Sam smiled sadly and nodded his head "Yeah…she was lovely…I swear you have never seen anyone more beautiful in your life…" he smiled and looked into the distance

"Oh, I don't know…" Waverly smiled and looked at Nicole

Sam laughed "Well, yeah that's true… So much of her reminds me of Isabel…" he sighed "…too much…" he ended so quietly Waverly nearly didn't hear it

"It's a beautiful name"

"It is" Sam said "But don't you dare shorten it" he said wagging his finger comically "She didn't like that at all" he laughed "Just like Nicole…"

Waverly frowned "Oh?"

"No, I remember when she was younger, she went through a phase of wanting to be called Nic, but it didn't last long…all the boys at Basketball kept asking if she wanted to be a boy and stuff like that and what with her questioning…things, she put a stop to it after a few weeks" he laughed "I sometimes call her it just to mess with her"

"I didn't know that" Waverly confessed "Or that she played basketball…I suppose her height helps…"

"Yup, that's one of the few things she got from me, her height….and her hair…although you wouldn't know it now" he smiled running his hands through his now grey hair.

Waverly smiled, he was easy to get along with and he reminded her so much of Nicole that it sort of made her sad.

Over the next couple of hours they talked and laughed. At one point Bessie came in to check on Nicole and change her bandages again. She acted differently with Sam there, she kept looking at him through the corner of her eye as if he was suddenly going to attack her or surprise her, But she still got on with her job. When she had undone the bandages on Nicole's left arm Sam noticed a mark that looked different to the rest.

"What is that?" he asked pointing at his daughters arm from his side of the bed

"I-it is just part of the scarring…" Bessie said dismissively as she quickly got on with redressing the still red arm. She really seemed like she wanted to get away from him

After she'd left Waverly mentioned it "Well, that was weird, she's never that quick or dismissive…and she didn't like you!" she smiled and laughed at Sam

He smiled "That's because she knows who I am"

Waverly was confused "What do you mean?"

"What I did doesn't happen very often and really isn't something that should happen" he explained

"What you did?" Waverly still didn't know what he meant

"Me and Nicole's mother…" he clarified

"Oh..of course" Waverly laughed at her own stupidity

"It's only happened a handful of times, if that, and they certainly don't get away with it for as long as we did…and there are even fewer like Nicole" he said looking at his daughter

Before Waverly could say anything he asked something else "Waverly, do you know what that was on Nicole's arm?"

Waverly had seen what he was referring to while Bessie was there "It's been there all the time, but I don't know what it is, I just assumed it was part of the burns…"

"Yeah, it could be…" he said thinking "…it just looks different, it's a large patch, the rest seems to be less patchy more lines…." he shook his head and smiled "Oh, it doesn't matter, the main thing is that they're getting better" He smiled again trying to reassure the young woman in front of him, but he had his suspicions as to what the larger mark was. When Waverly had told him what his daughter had done he'd been surprised. He didn't think someone who was only half angel would have to power to be able to do that all by herself, and now seeing that mark, if only from across the bed, he realised that she hadn't done it by herself.

Another few hours passed and visiting hours were up.

As they got ready to leave Waverly leaned over Nicole and stroked her forehead and hair "I'll see you tomorrow, baby" she whispered and kissed her girlfriends cheek. She then walked away to the end of the bed so that Sam could do the same.

He leaned over his daughter and whispered "Hey there, little girl, You just concentrate on getting better, okay? don't you worry about anything, because you are being well taken care of, okay honey? you know I will always love you" he kissed her forehead and looked down at his daughter for a moment, then made his way out of the room with Waverly.


	14. Chapter 14

The door to the motel room opened quickly and Nicole's dad stood inside the room, he looked surprised to see her.

"Hi" Waverly smiled, she was a little nervous about asking him to dinner, but he was Nicole's father and she thought it might be a nice idea, she also wanted to make a good impression on him. He hadn't said he wanted dinner, he just said he was going back to the motel, but there was a little diner a little way down the road from the motel and she thought it was informal enough for them both.

"Oh hey, kid" He said with a smile, then turned back to the bed where he looked like he was packing his bags.

"Are-are you packing?" Waverly questioned as she followed him into the room

"Well…errrr…yeah" There was no way he could hide it really, he had all of his stuff on the bed and was in the process of throwing it all into the bag he had.

"Aren't you staying? Aren't you coming to see Nicole tomorrow…" Waverly asked. How could he be leaving? He only got here this morning, his daughter is in intensive care and he's only going to stay for one day?

He stood up straight like he was thinking of an answer "I don't think I need to…" he said turning towards her "She seems very well cared for with you and your sister, you seem to have it all covered, huh? and really, what can I do?" he shrugged, somewhat defeated.

As she got closer to him to protest him leaving she could smell alcohol. With a quick glimpse around the room she saw four cans of beer, two of them on their sides, so obviously empty, the others on the table next to the bed he was packing on.

"But you've only been here a day? You've hardly seen her…." Waverly protested

He took a moment to answer "I can't do anything here, kid, she's better off without me, she always has been…I'm-i'm better from a distance, that's why we write and phone each other…and she'll be fine…she'll understand, this is just how it is…with us" he said "…and no matter what, I will always support her…always…just…from a distance… when she wanted to go away to college or the academy, she was worried about leaving me, but I always worried about her staying…I-i didn't want my sadness to become hers, y'know?…I wanted her to be better…to be… herself…and not be stuck with someone who…who just wanted to go back…" he sighed and took a swig of his beer and shook his head "She is happy here with you…I don't want to get in the way of that, I don't want to get in the way of her happiness" he smiled

Waverly shook her head, she didn't know what to say, he'd seemed so different at the hospital, bright and happy but now he seemed…sad, unsure and maybe a little broken.

"Look I know how she feels about you and I can see she means a lot to you too… and you'll be good for her… for each other…the nurses said that you have been at the hospital every day since she got there and I can imagine you wont stop going until she's better…but I-I can't do that…I would love to, but I can't…" he shook his head "being close to her and those angels…that feeling they give off…I found a place where there isn't any of that…i'm free from it…" He looked at her as if he had said too much, then looked away. He straightened up again and in a voice that sounded like he was trying to convince himself of something he said "anyway I could only get five days off work and it took me nearly two days to drive here….I can't lose my job" he shook his head, but avoided looking at Waverly

"Surely you can stay a bit longer?" Waverly pleaded

He shook his head again "I can't… and she wouldn't want me too…she knows what would…she'll understand" he sighed and smiled sadly

"But, I came to ask you to dinner, I thought…"

Again he shook his head "I'm…i'm in no state to…I don't…I didn't think i'd see you tonight…" He seemed to be embarrasses or ashamed of being drunk in front of her

Waverly felt a little guilty for surprising him "Well, then maybe I should go…" she said moving back towards the door "It was just a silly idea…It was a pleasure meeting you, sir" she smiled "And i'll tell Nicole that you came to see her…"

He smiled "Thank you…if you…if you could just not tell her about this? maybe just forget about it?" he said smiling apologetically about being drunk

Waverly nodded "Of course" she smiled sympathetically "But….Mr Haught if you are going to leave, could you at least wait until the morning? Nicole will kill me if she finds out I let you drive after having a couple of beers"

He started laughing loudly, Waverly could see where Nicole got her smile from "Kill you?" he laughed "Oh, she wouldn't kill you, kid…" He said getting his breath back "Well, she might, but it's more likely to be worse than that, she'd be disappointed in you and believe me, that's so much worse" his smile dropped a little. He sounded like he knew that from experience.

He smiled at her sadly again "Alright kid, i'll go tomorrow"

"Thank you" Waverly smiled and gave a little wave to him as she left the room and made her way to her jeep

He waved back, closed the door and lent against it "Shit" he said quietly looking at the floor. He really hadn't wanted the sweet young girl to see him drunk. He didn't think she would come and see him tonight so he'd decided to take the edge off a bit, but maybe a bit too much. Seeing Nicole like that in the hospital, seeing her girlfriend, that she was always gushing about on the phone or in her letters and seeing just how much she was loved and cared for, broke his heart a little. He was so happy for her, this is what he wanted for her, but he was also slightly jealous that he didn't have the same. He'd _had_ the same, he had been so in love and so happy and had the most fantastic family, but it had all been taken away, and without him even witnessing it. He had never really managed to get over it. He had certainly done his best when Nicole was younger, he knew he had to try and make her life happy and fulfilled. He'd had to do that for Nicole, but also for her mother, Isabel. And he was so pleased that her life was happy and fulfilled, but he also wished that he could be a bigger part of it, but being around Nicole and that feeling…he just couldn't get addicted to it again, he mustn't.

—

"Good morning, Mountain Motel" came a cheery voice on the other end of the phone

"Hi Julia, could you-"

"Oh hey, is that Waverly?"

"Yes it is…"

"Oh, hi honey, how are you?"

"I'm well thank you, can I-"

"And how is officer Haught? we have all been thinking about her at our knitting group…"

"She's erm… she's the same, really… she stable…"

"Well, that's good to hear, stable is always good, honey"

"Thanks Julia…"

"Now what can I help you with this morning?"

"Oh, Can you put me through to room eighteen, please?"

"Room…eighteen…oh, that rooms vacant…"

"Vacant? are you sure?"

"Let me just…check the book…." there was the sound of pages being flicked through "Yeah…says here it was vacated last night… at one fifteen…"

"Last night?…." Waverly couldn't believe he'd left, not only had he gone, but he had left while he was drunk, which he said he wouldn't do "Okay, thank you Julia"

"That is quite alright honey, you take care now"

"I will"

—

"Hey, you weren't out long last night" Wynonna said when Waverly walked into the kitchen the next morning

Waverly quickly looked at her sister then opened the fridge and stuck her head in it, trying to ignore the question, but also trying to think of a decent reply.

"Yeah" that was it, that's all Waverly could come up with. She closed the fridge door without taking anything out of it and leaned against it

"That's it? Professor Earp says 'yeeaahhh'" Wynonna ended with a dopey voice "What's wrong?"

Waverly shook her head, pushed herself off the fridge and sat at the end of the table opposite her sister

Wynonna looked at her while drinking her second coffee of the morning "Didn't the dinner go well?"

"He left" Waverly said plainly

"He walked out? What did you do?" Wynonna said with utter surprise

"I didn't do anything, we didn't even go to dinner, I got to the motel and…" Waverly sighed, Sam had asked that she didn't tell Nicole about his drinking, so she thought maybe she shouldn't tell Wynonna "…he was packing and was about to leave…"

"WHAT? His daughter is unconscious in the hospital!" Wynonna said angrily

"Really? I hadn't noticed" Waverly snapped

Wynonna looked at her a little surprised.

Waverly knew what she'd done and apologised "Sorry" she said sadly

Wynonna stood and walked over to her sister who she knew was upset, Waverly rarely snapped at people and especially her, unless she was upset "Hey, baby girl, come here" she said standing next to Waverly and pulling her head into her tummy for a hug.

Waverly placed her arms around Wynonna's waist and held her tight.

After a moment of silence Waverly spoke "I'm sorry…I just…I can't believe he'd do that…he seemed so nice…and she's….I…."

As Waverly started to cry Wynonna pulled her in tighter "Hey, hey come on, it's okay" she said pulling away and kneeling in front of her sister taking her head in her hands "It's okay"

Waverly shook her head "It's not…I thought she'd be awake by now…" she cried

"We all did, baby girl, we all thought she'd be awake, but it's only been, what, twelve days? and she's getting better, you see it every day when you go in there, don't you?" She said wiping a tear away from Waverly's cheek.

Waverly nodded "Yeah" she sniffed

"So, we just give it a little longer, okay? she strong and she'll be awake soon enough, flashing those annoyingly cute dimples at you and all of this will be over, eh?" she tried to reassure.

To Wynonna's relief the reassurance seemed to work. Waverly nodded and wiped her face with both hands to get rid of the tears. "I'm sorry" she sniffed

"Don't be sorry, sis" Wynonna said kissing her forehead and standing up

—

This wasn't Waverly's best day, she'll admit, not only was she annoyed, frustrated and disappointed that Nicole's dad had left, and in the middle of the night while drunk no less, but she had also been researching the wrong thing for the last 45 minutes.

When she realised she pushed her laptop away from herself in frustration, slumped back into her chair and put her head in her hands. Her mind raced through everything she was winding herself up over. About Nicole's dad, her decision not to mention to Nicole that he had left, even though she knew she probably couldn't hear her. About still not telling Wynonna the whole truth about a lot of things. About researching the wrong damn thing and spending far too long looking into it, although she must admit that what she had found, no matter how wrong, was actually really interesting.

She stayed with her head in her hands for a little while until she had calmed herself down. She then turned to look at Nicole.

She wasn't sure if it was the right thing to think, but she was really starting to get fed up with this whole situation. It had been over a week and a half since the incident and there was hardly any real change in Nicole's condition. Well, okay that may not be entirely true, but Waverly was frustrated and exaggerating. Nicole's wounds on her arms had markedly improved, but they were still pretty bad.

She stood up and walked over to the bed and looked her girlfriend up and down, then took hold of her bandaged hand.

"Can't you wake up now, baby?" she asked quietly "please?" She felt tears starting to form in her eyes and tried desperately not to let them fall.

She leaned over Nicole and whispered in her ear "Please, baby, please wake up, I miss you so much" With the last word her voice cracked and the tears fell.

To her dismay a tear landed on Nicole's cheek. "Oh god, sorry, baby" She said quickly wiped it away with her thumb, she felt awful and a little ashamed. What would Nicole think if she saw her now, she wondered.

—

Beep…Beep…Beep…Beep…Beep…Beep…

Over the last two weeks or so Waverly had become used to the noises the machines around Nicole made.

Beep…Beep…Beep…Beep…Beep…Beep…

She would happily sit and look things up for Wynonna and Dolls on her computer or try to translate some obscure text from a seal, while the machines did their thing.

Beep…Beep…Beep…Beep…Beep…Beep…

She didn't get distracted by them any more, they never took her mind off of what she was doing, in fact she sort of noticed their absence when she wasn't there at the hospital.

Beep…Beep…Beep…Beep…Beep…Beep…

Today was no different from any other day, she sat next to Nicole and worked away. She'd had a little nap earlier as she still wasn't sleeping properly, her nightmares just wouldn't stop. Luckily though no one had caught her napping, she's pretty sure Wynonna would have ribbed her about that for a couple of days. But the nap only helped a little, she was still so tired.

Beep…Beep…Beep…Beep…Beep…Beep…

At the moment she'd found herself going off on a very interesting tangent from what she had started researching for Wynonna, well at least, she was finding it interesting….

Beep…Beep…Beep…Dooop…Beep…Beep…

Her head jerked up from what she was reading.

What was that?

Had she actually heard that?

Beep…Beep…Beep…Dooop…Beep…Beep…

She had. There it was again.

She moved to the edge of her seat and waited, listening

Beep…Beep…Beep…Dooop…Beep…Beep…

She stood up and moved up the bed to Nicole and looked at the machines and waited again

Beep…Beep…Beep…Dooop…Beep…Beep…

She quickly turned to the machine she thought the new Doop sound came from. It seemed to be the ventilator helping Nicole breathe.

Beep…Beep…Beep…Dooop…Beep…Beep…

She looked at the front of the machine to see if there was any indication of why it had suddenly started making a different noise, but all she could see was a new blinking light.

Beep…Beep…Beep…Dooop…Beep…Beep…

The light continued to flash and the machine was still making a new noise so she rushed out of the room to find a nurse as quickly as she could.

Beep…Beep…Beep…Dooop…Beep…Beep…

"It just started making a different noise" Waverly said rushing back in the room being followed by a nurse.

She stood at the end of the bed and watched as the nurse did something with the machine, she pressed some buttons and read reading on the front of it.

"What…What is it?" Waverly asked warily "Is something wrong?"

The chirpy nurse turned around smiling "Oh, nothing's wrong, it's good news" she looked excited and smiled so much her whole face seemed to smile and her shoulders practically lifted up to her ears "It's what you might call feedback, the machine is basically pushing air into Ms. Haught's lungs as she was too weak to do so herself, but now there is some resistance….it means she's getting stronger and she's starting to breath on her own again"

The nurse walked up to Waverly and took her hand in hers "Isn't that great?" she beamed

Waverly was taken aback, not by the nurses strangely excessive cheerfulness, but by the feeling she got when she touched her. It's possible she wouldn't have payed much attention to it if Sam hadn't talked about the feeling angels give off, but she definitely felt it now. She slowly found herself feeling unnaturally calm. Waverly removed her hands from the nurses subtly and smiled at her, so she wouldn't think anything way wrong. There really was a lot of angels in this hospital, she thought to herself as she moved up the bed to Nicole.

"It's…it's fantastic" She smiled and looked at the nurse then back at her girlfriend. It was the first real sign that she was getting better and Waverly was so pleased she felt like crying.

She watched for the next 30 minutes or so as doctors and nurses came and went, writing things down on Nicole's chart, checking the ventilator and apparently changing settings on it.

As she stood watching the comings and goings of the hospital staff, Wynonna and Doc came in.

Wynonna made a beeline for her sister "How is she?" she said as she hugged her sister

"They say she's getting stronger, she's starting to breathe on her own"

"That is good news" Doc said as he took his new hat off and stood at the end of the bed looking at Nicole.

Wynonna squeezed Waverly's shoulders happily. She knew her sister had been feeling down for a few days, especially since Nicole's dad left. But as her younger sister looked up at her and smiled she knew this was exactly the kind of news she needed.


	15. Chapter 15

Over the last couple of days Waverly's mood had definitely improved. Each day since Nicole's machines started making different sounds, the setting had been changed. And changed for the better. Yesterday the doctors had decided that Nicole had made sufficient progress for them to remove the ventilator altogether. They were going to monitor her, just to make sure she was breathing well enough on her own, but so far it was looking good.

As Waverley was getting ready for her daily trip to the hospital, she came into the kitchen to find Doc talking excitedly to Wynonna. She stood in the doorway and watched as he stood by the table and gesticulated wildly, while her sister leaned her hand at the table and rolled her eyes at Waverly.

"Good morning" Waverly interrupted

"Why good morning Waverly" Doc said doffing his hat "I assume you are on your way to see Ms Haught in the hospital?" he asked

Waverly nodded while filling her thermos mug up with coffee

"Well may I offer you a ride in my new automobile?" Doc asked politely

To be honest Waverly didn't really want to, she liked having the freedom of driving herself around, then she could leave when she wanted and didn't have to rely on anyone else, but the look Wynonna was giving her and the excitement in Doc's face made her agree

"Wonderful!" Doc exclaimed

As he made his way to the door Waverly looked at her sister "What's all that about?" she asked pointing in Doc's direction

Wynonna shook her head "His new car, he's over excited" she shrugged

Waverly laughed as she made her way to the front door, grabbing her bags as she went.

When she got outside Doc was waiting on the porch and dramatically motioned towards the bright red car sitting in a the snow.

"Ain't she a beauty?" Doc asked as he walked Waverly to the passenger side door.

"Well, she's….er….very red" Waverly finished smiling

He beamed "She is that"

He stood and admired the car for a moment longer than Waverly was comfortable with, then he leaned forward and opened the door for her, she thought she'd got away quite lightly with him fawning over the car until he leaned in and said "Let me show you the inside too" just before he closed the door. While Waverly waited for Doc to walk around the car and get in she looked around to see what exactly he would be showing her, but there was nothing that looked all that interesting, the car must have been at least twenty years old.

Doc got in and took his hat off putting it on what passed as a back seat, but looked more like a parcel shelf, and he smiled happily at her before beginning her 'tour' of the car's interior.

—

"Oh god, i'm so sorry i'm late baby…" Waverly began as she walked into Nicole's room, she had rushed so much trying to get out of Doc's car without him trying to show her what the inside of the boot looked like that she had all of her bags and scarf caught up together, and slowly tightening around her neck. "You wouldn't believe…" She walked in trying desperately to untangle herself and looking down at all her mess "…I got stuck with Doc, he's got a new car, a BRIGHT red car, and he's so excited that it has a cassette player he wouldn't let me leave…" She stood in front of her normal chair and gave up trying to untangle herself, she just let go of everything and let it fall on the chair, then began unwinding her scarf from around her neck "oof..there you go.." she whisper to herself as she got it off and threw it with the other stuff "…I mean a cassette player!" she scoffed "Like it's nineteen eighty something" she laughed to herself "Well, anyway sorry…"

"That's okay baby"

Waverly frowned, she recognised that voice. Even if it did sound a bit croaky.

She span around towards Nicole, and there she was sitting up in bed just smiling at her, dimples and all.

Waverly's heart started racing, what was going on?

She stood there looking at Nicole, her brain not quite figuring out what she was seeing "Wha….?" she vaguely managed to whisper

Nicole just watched her and laughed a little, just waiting for it to sink in for Waverly

A smile slowly spread across Waverly's face and she started to move closer to Nicole

"Oh my god" she said covering her mouth with her hands in surprise "OH MY GOD" she said again getting to the head of the bed. She lifted herself quickly onto the side of the bed taking Nicole's face in both hands and just staring at her smile for a moment before kissing her softly, she pulled away for a moment to look at her girlfriend again, just to make sure she wasn't dreaming, then kissed her again. "oh my god"

Nicole carefully moved her arms so that she was touching Waverly's back, well her bandage covered hands were touching her back at least.

Again Waverly pulled away but held on to Nicole's cheeks, softly stroking her cheek with her thumb

Nicole hadn't stopped smiling "Hey cutie" she said quietly

"Hi sweetie pie" Waverly smiled back. She ran her eyes over Nicole's face slowly taking her in. It was strange, she'd been looking at her everyday for weeks, but seeing her now felt like she hadn't seen her at all for all those weeks, she felt like she had to take her in again. While she did she noticed that there were still tubes coming out of Nicole's nose taped to her cheek, they had been there all the rest of the time, but seeing them now seemed a little jarring.

Waverly let her hands softly fall down Nicole's cheeks and chest and end up in her lap. Nicole carefully and a little awkwardly moved her hands to cover Waverly's.

"Oh, be careful" Waverly said concerned suddenly seeing the bandages

"It's okay" Nicole reassured softly

"Do they hurt?"

"A little"

Waverly winced a little looking at Nicole's hand and remembering how they looked under the dressings, but before she could say anything more she saw a white flash out of the corner of her eye.

"Oh" Nicole said with surprise before she could take in the fact that her cat had jumped onto the bed and was currently standing in her lap with her front feet on her chest rubbing her cheeks on Nicole's face.

"Oh, hey Teetoo" Nicole managed to say as she tried to move her face out of the cats way "Hey…" She tried unsuccessfully to grab hold of the cat to stop it, she was a little worried about the tubes on her cheek "…ow" The pain of moving her hands and arms this much stopped her from getting the cat "Waves, could you…" she said still trying to move her face away

"Oh goodness, sure" Waverly said quickly grabbing the cat and holding her to her chest "That's enough Teetoo, come here.…Baby are you okay?" She asked Nicole

Nicole smiled a little weakly "Yeah, my arms are just…." she shook her head not wanting to complain "Hey Teetoo, it's good to see you too…" she leaned forward and said to the feline as she struggled excitedly in Waverly's arms to get back to Nicole "What is she doing here?" Nicole asked sitting back in the bed and resting her head back on the pillow looking a little exhausted suddenly

"Oh, I couldn't stop her" Waverly laughed "And believe me I tried! I went to your place to feed her and get some of your clothes and she hid herself in your bag, I didn't know until we were in the car and by that time it was too late" Waverly smiled.

Nicole sat wearily watching Waverly and smiled

"I couldn't leave her in my car all day, so I had to bring her in here, so every day…here we are!" Waverly smiled down at the cat

"The nurse said you've been in here every day…" Nicole said sounding a little sleepy

Waverly smiled "Of course"

"How long…how long have I been in here?" Nicole yawned

"Just over three weeks" Waverly smiled sympathetically

"Three..?" Nicole said softly. Her breathing seemed to be slowing and her eyes seemed to be drifting shut.

"Hey, if you're tired baby, that's okay, you can sleep, okay?" Waverly said leaning forward and stroking Nicole's cheek

Nicole's eyes were shut already, but she just about nodded "Okay…." she practically whispered. She'd been awake for only an hour or so, but was already feeling exhausted, a little nap would help though

—

Nicole was suddenly aware of a warm feeling on her arm and chest and as she regained more consciousness, she could hear the rhythmic purring of her cat Thunderbolt. She slowly opened her eyes and looked down to see Thunderbolt laying, as best she could, curled up at the top of her arm and a little on her chest. She smiled at the cat that was always happy to comfort her in some way. She looked up from the cat to see Waverly sitting in a big comfy looking chair with her laptop and a pile of books on a little table in front of her. This must be what she'd been up to everyday for the last three weeks, Nicole thought.

She watched her girlfriend sitting with her phone squashed between her ear and shoulder as she talked on the phone and apparently looked something up on her laptop.

"I KNOW…" Waverly said happily smiling "I know….no, I wouldn't yet, she's asleep at the minute…yeah I think she's still exhausted…from what she did….no Wynonna, I told you it's up to her to say….okay….yeah, I will when she wakes up…okay…yeah… bye" Waverly let the phone drop from her ear skilfully into her hand and placed it on top of the books. Just before she went back to typing she flicked her hair over her shoulder and Nicole got a quick glimpse of red skin on her jaw and neck and remembered what had happened.

"Waverly?" she said with a sleep filled voice

Waverly turned to her quickly and smiled "Hey baby" she said getting up and heading to Nicole and again sitting on the side of the bed next to her

"How are you feeling?" Waverly asked moving a strand of hair out of Nicole's eyes

"Tired" Nicole answered simply "Sorry I fell asleep"

Waverly shook her head "You go to sleep whenever you need to, okay?" she smiled

Nicole looked at Waverley for a moment "Waverly, are you alright?" she asked quietly

"Me? yeah i'm fine" she smiled slightly confused

Nicole moved her cat free hand slowly up to Waverly's neck "You were hurt…I hurt you…" Nicole remembered "…when I touched your face, that's why my hands are…." she looked at her bandaged arm

"It's alright, i'm alright" Waverly smiled "It worked, whatever it was you did worked, that thing… it's gone" she said leaning in and resting her forehead against Nicole's and kissing her lightly. "It's gone, i'm me" But Nicole still looked worried

"But… I hurt you, I burned you, I remember seeing your face start to burn before…" She said, again looking at Waverly's neck

"You saved me, baby" Waverly said stroking Nicole's cheek "And you could have died doing it" she said softly

"I know" Nicole leaned into Waverly's hand with her cheek

Waverly sat back a little in surprise "You knew? you knew you could have died doing what you did?"

Nicole nodded

"And you still did it?" Waverly said softly, a little stunned

"Why wouldn't I?" she smiled

"Because… you could have died, in fact you did! You stopped breathing, Dolls had to do CPR, your heart stopped, Nicole" Waverly shook her head, her eyes filling with tears at the thought of it all

Nicole lifted a bandaged hand and placed it softly on Waverly's cheek "Hey, it's okay, it's okay…"

"No,… you could have…" Waverly shook her head not wanting to say it again

"But I didn't, i'm here, you're here…"

"But you're hurt…" Waverly was now fully crying

"and so are you" Nicole said lifting Waverly's head so she could look into her eyes. She smiled at the situation, they'd gone full circle on the conversation "Hey come on…" she pulled Waverly into a hug as best she could with her bandaged arms and a cat in between them.

"I was so scared…" Waverly said through sobs "I was scared you wouldn't wake up…you had tubes….and it was…it took so long"

Nicole held her tighter, in some ways it was alright for her, she hadn't been aware of any of this, but Waverly had been there every day, for three weeks, worrying about her "Hey come on…" she said rocking them both a little "We are both here and we are both fine, well mainly fine" she smiled "…and if you carry on crying, you know i'll start too…"

Waverly pulled away and wiped the tears from her cheeks and laughed slightly. She looked at Nicole "I missed you so much" she said sniffing, looking away with a little embarrassment at the admission

"Well, i'm here now and i'm not going anywhere" Nicole smiled "how…how badly did I hurt you?" she asked after a moment

Waverly looked up and pulled her hair away from her neck "It was pretty bad, I mean not like really bad, but yeah it was bad, it looked like a really bad burn" she smiled as Nicole grimaced

"I'm sorry" she said looking at her girlfriends slowly healing neck

"You have nothing to be sorry for, this was all my fault…"

"How was it your fault" Nicole said resting her head back on her pillow

Waverly thought she looked tired again and wasn't sure telling her about everything that had happened was the best idea. She shook her head and was about to say as much when Nurse Bessie came into the room

"I'm sorry to interrupt ladies…" She said not noticing Teetoo jumping under the bed "…But we have to run a few tests and check a few things…" she smiled at them both

—

A few hours later Nicole had just woken up from another nap to find Waverly packing all of the books and her computer away "Waves?"

"Hey sweetie" Waverly said attempting to get her laptop in her bag and succeeding after a couple of tries

"Are you leaving?"

"I am…" Waverly said sadly as she made her way closer to Nicole, and placing her hand on her arm "…visiting hours are up, but i'll be back in the morning" She smiled sweetly

"Oh, okay" Nicole sounded disappointed "I seem to have slept through most of today" she said

"Sleep will help you get better…" Waverly said

"Yeah…food would be better…." Nicole said. Even though she was being fed through a tube still, she knew she really needed more energy and the sort of energy bad food could give her

"Bessie said they were going to take the tube out tomorrow, so you should get some then…" Waverly tried to reassure

Nicole nodded and smiled at her girlfriend who had turned back around to make sure she had all of her things and, of course, the cat

"Sorry I have to go, they get a bit snippy if I stay too long" she smiled apologetically "Especially Bessie" she whispered "Do you want me to bring you anything tomorrow?" she asked

"No, just yourself" She smiled

Waverly had really missed that smile

"or…. maybe yourself and a burger?" Nicole smiled widely "or a couple of pizza's? some ice cream? aah ice cream" she smiled at the thought "…or a milkshake? or some chocolate?" Nicole smiled cheekily at Waverly, she was sort of joking, but she felt like she needed far more calories to get better than the hospital were giving her.

"Now how am I supposed to smuggle any of those past the nurses?" Waverly asked jokingly, but also semi seriously

"You can do anything" Nicole said smiling "I believe in you"

"Gee, i've missed you" Waverly said smiling and moving in to kiss Nicole "I'll see you in the morning"


End file.
